574 
MANATIS AND DUGONGS. 
The Northern Sea-Cow. 
Genus Rhytina. 
On his return in 1741 from a voyage of discovery to Alaska, the navigator 
Behring had the misfortune to be shipwrecked on the island which now bears his 
name; that island, together with the adjacent Copper 
Island, constituting the Commander group, which lie in 
Behring Sea, at a distance of about one hundred miles from 
the coast of Kamschatka. At the time of their involuntary 
sojourn, Behring and his companions found the shores of 
these islands inhabited by a hitherto unknown animal, evi¬ 
dently allied to the manati, but of much greater dimensions. 
This creature was the northern sea-cow (Rliytina stelleri), 
then found in vast numbers on the islands in question, but 
which within a period of thirty years from that date appears 
to have been totally exterminated by the hand of man. 
Indeed, had it not been for the fortunate circumstance that 
Behring was accompanied by the naturalist Steller, we 
> should probably never even have heard of the very exist- 
i ence of this animal, except through some slight mention 
5 in the accounts of certain contemporary voyagers. Unfor- 
: tunately, no skins and only some imperfect skeletons of the 
l animal appear to have been preserved by the survivors of 
; Behring’s party; but of late years, a considerable number 
’ of more or less imperfect skeletons have been reclaimed 
, from the frozen soil of the Commander Islands. 
5 This gigantic Sirenian differed from all its allies in 
l having no teeth, the functions of which were performed by 
the horny plates covering the palate and opposing surface 
of the lower jaw. The head was very small in proportion 
to the body; and the extremities of the jaws were some¬ 
what bent downwards. The tail was forked, after the 
manner of that of the dugong. The flippers were very 
small and truncated, and were covered with bristly hairs. 
Steller expressly states that there were no bones in the 
hand; and it is certain that none have hitherto been found. 
The skin was naked, and covered with a thick, rugged epi¬ 
dermis, which was compared to the bark of a tree; in places 
this epidermis was an inch in thickness, and so tough that 
it required the use of an axe to cut it. The skin, according 
to Steller’s description, was dark brown in colour, sometimes 
marked with streaks or spots of white. A drawing of the animal left by Waxell, 
the navigator of Behring’s party, represents it, however, as being marked with 
alternate dark and light transverse cstripes. The skeleton herewith figured 
measures 19 J feet in length, which would indicate a length of about 20 feet in the 
