~~ The Mermaid of Early Writers. — 167 
Daubenton’s, that he has given no figure of it, (Gauvres, Tom. 
ii. P. 479.) 
- 3d, The descriptions by Sir E. Home, (Phil. Trans. 1820, P. 
144,) with figures, of two specimens sent: to England by Sir 
Stamford Rafiles from Sumatra; and of a cranium in Mr. 
Brookes’s collection. 
4th, Description by Sir S. Raffles of a male dugong 83 feet long, 
(Phil. Trans. 1820, P. 174,) af 
doth, The descriptions and engravings by Cuvier (Oss. Fossiles, 
-Tom. v. P. 262, Pl. 20,) of another skeleton, brought from Su- 
matra by MM. Diard and Duvaucel. 
6th, Cranium in the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 
7th, Skeleton in the Edinburgh College Museum. 
1. The specimen which supplied to Daubenton the description 
he has given, was deprived of the whele of the occipital and parie- 
tal bones ; but the remaining parts, and especially the teeth, ap- 
pear to have been entire. ‘They are thus described by the author: 
«*« The molar teeth of the dugong are placed at the bottom of the 
mouth, at a great distance from the tusks ; there are four on each 
side of the superior jaw, and three on each side below ; their crown 
is formed of a concave surface ; their root is hollow like that of the 
tusks, which are the largest of the teeth ; they have a longitudinal 
fluting upon their sides. All the teeth are of ivory, with a thin 
rind of the same nature, but without any envelope of enamel. 
_ © The tusks are about half a foot long, and two inches in cir- 
cumference ; the cavity of their roots is more than three inches 
deep ; they are composed of ivory like the molares ; they do not 
pass above an inch out of the alveoli; this extra-alveolar portion is 
shaped by friction to a cutting edge, whose oblique face is on the 
external side, where alone it is not covered with enamel. As it is 
not possible that this face can have been formed by friction against 
other teeth, I presume that the animal rubs them on the external 
side against surrounding bodies.”* The age and sex of this speci- 
men .were unknown. As no mention is made of the inferior inci- 
sores, it may be presumed that they were wanting. It is remarkable 
that the dimensions are not stated. 
2. From an impression that the morse and the dugong had been 
unnaturally associated by Buffon and Daubenton, Camper was in- 
duced to publish a paper on this subject, wherein is contained an 
account of a cranium sent to him from Batavia by M. Vander- 
steege. ‘‘ The figure and description,’ says Camper, “ which 
Daubenton has given in the 13th vol. of the Hist. Nat. of Buffon, 
are so exact and perfect, that it would be useless for me to add any 
* Hist. Nat. gen. et partic. 12mo. Paris 1766. Tom. xxvii. P. 293, Pl. 56. If 
it were probable that the most anterior pair of the inferior incisores (of which 
mention will be made in the sequel) ever attained sufficient developement, they 
would be the most likely agents in the attrition of the tusks. The direction 
they would necessarily take, renders the idea plausible. 
