Guide to the galleries of mammalia (mammalian, osteological, cetacean) in the Department of Zoology of the British Museum (Natural History).
- British Museum (Natural History). Department of Zoology.
- Date:
- 1892
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Guide to the galleries of mammalia (mammalian, osteological, cetacean) in the Department of Zoology of the British Museum (Natural History). Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![rior edge nearly straight, somewhat as in tlie Whales. The Dugongs inhabit the coasts of the Indian Ocean, from the Red Sea to Australia, living in shallow waters, and feeding, like the Mana- tees, on sea- and river-weeds, but being on the whole more marine in their habits, and taking more readily to deep water. Tliree species have been distinguished, namely—HaVicore taher- naciili, the Red-Sea Dugong; H. duyong, the Indian; and H. australis, the Australian species. A stuffed specimen of the Red- Sea and a skeleton of the Indian species are placed in the Saloon, and a series of skulls of the other forms in Case 23. (3) IViytina, entirely without teeth, their place being taken by rough horny plates ; snout moderately bent downwards; flippers short; tail with two lateral flukes, as in the Cetacea. The only species of this genus is Steller^s Sea-Cow [R. gigas), which formerly in numbers inhabited the shores of the islands iu the neighbourhood of Behring Straits and Alaska. Its capture was so easy that the process of its extermination was accomplished within a short period after its discovery, towards the end of the last century. HappilVj before its final extermination, a German naturalist in the Russian service, Steller, published an excellent account of its anatomy and habits; so that it is nearly as well known as its living allies. ]\lany of its remains were discovered during the voyage of the ^ A^ega ^ in the region where it lived. A nearly perfect skull, obtained from Behring Island, is placed iu Case 23, D. Steller^s Sea-Cow was more than twice as large as either the Dugongs or Manatees, attaining a length of about 25 feet; but its habits were precisely similar. Fossil Sirenians are known as far back as the Middle Eocene, the Eotherium cegijptiacum having been found in Egy[)tian deposits of that age. In later times the members of this Order, such as Halithernim,Felsinotherhim, and others, were abundant in European seas, and their remains occur fossil in considerable numbers in Germany, France, and Italy : a single Miocene species has been recorded from Suffolk. Order IX. CETACEA. [See Cetacean Gallery, p. 104.)](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28122574_0108.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
