Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/310

286 although this is but slightly developed. No outer ears exist, and the eyes are very small. The flippers, or paddle-like fore-limbs, are placed very far forward on the body, and possess rudimentary nails, evidencing the skeletal composition of its terminal parts, which necessarily correspond to fingers.

As might be inferred from the most cursory examination, the Manatee is purely aquatic in its habits. By drawing off the water from its pond, in the case of the specimen which lived in the Zoological Society's Gardens, and which was between six and seven feet long, it was ascertained that the creature is perfectly helpless on land, its only movement being a roll by the aid of the flippers and tail.

The dissection of this individual by Professor Garrod, and the previous examination of the salted specimens by Dr. Murie, resulted in the publication of some interesting information concerning the internal structure and anatomy. The number of vertebrae in the neck is one less than is usually possessed by the majority of mammals. In man and most other mammals the number of the cervical vertebrae is seven ; in the Manatee only six, a peculiarity, so far as is known, shared by only one other animal — Hoffman's Sloth.

The mouth is a very singular one, having on either side a pad or side-lip covered with stiff bristles projecting inwards, with which its food, which is purely vegetable, is seized and conveyed to the mouth. The fore-lips, both upper and under, are com- paratively small.

The mode of feeding has been compared by Mr. Garrod to that of a silkworm or other caterpillar, in which the jaws move hori- zontally instead of vertically. Mr. Tegetmeier, in a notice of this animal which appeared in 'The Field' of 6th July last, accom- panied by a very characteristic illustration by Mr. T.W. Wood, has suggested that the arrangement of lateral lip-pads has a direct relation to the feeding of the animal on submerged aquatic leaves growing erect in the water like our flags and rushes, as these could evidently be much more easily gathered by lips opening laterally than by such as move up and down. The teeth are absent from the fore part of the jaws, their place being occupied, as in the upper jaw of a ruminant, by horny pads.

The Manatee being exclusively a vegetable feeder, the structure of the digestive organs is modified accordingly. The stomach is