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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2009
Among the vast additions which, during the past five years, have been made to the palæontological collections in the British Museum (Natural History), none probably possess greater interest to the naturalist and comparative anatomist than the remains of the very remarkable group of aquatic phytophagous mammals known as the Sirenia, of which the “Manatee” and the “Dugong” are the living representatives.
page 412 note 1 Graptolites of tlie Quebec Group, Montreal, 1865.
page 412 note 2 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. xi. (1873), pp. 133—143.
page 412 note 3 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. xiv. (1874). pp. 1—9.
page 412 note 4 Prodromus of the Palæontology of Victoria, Dec. i.—iii. (1874—78).
page 413 note 1 Numerous remains of Halitherium, comprising two jaws, one skull, detached teeth, scapulæ, femora, ribs, and many vertebræ, from Darmstadt, are also preserved in the collection.
page 414 note 1 See Mem. dell'Istit. di Bologna, ser. iii. tom. i. fasc. 4, pp. 605—634, tav. i—vii.
page 414 note 2 See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1855, vol. xi. pl. xv. figs. 1—6, and 1875, vol. xxxi. pp. 559—567.
page 415 note 1 Zimmermann, 1780.
page 415 note 2 Desmarest, 1819.
page 415 note 3 “De Bestiis marinis, auctore Georg. Wilhelm. Stellero,” etc., Mém. Acad. Sci. St. Pétersbourg (read 1745, published 1751), tom. ii. pp. 294–330.Google Scholar
page 415 note 4 “The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe”, London, 1881, vol. ii. pp. 272–281.Google Scholar
page 416 note 1 The first account of this acquisition was read before the Geological Society of London, 25 March, 1885, entitled:—“On an almost perfect Skeleton of Rhytina gigas (Rhytina, Stelleri, ‘Steller's Sea-cow’), obtained by Mr. Robert Damon, F.G.S., from the Pleistocene Peat-deposits on Behring's Island. By Woodward, Henry, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., etc.,” and appeared in the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., 1885, August No. vol. xli. pp. 457–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar A portion of this article, together with two of its illustrations, is, by permission of the President, reproduced here.
page 416 note 2 One of the contemporary writers on Rhytina with Brandt, after Steller, was Alexander v. Nordmann, Professor of Zoology in the Imperial University of Helsingfors, in Finland (see Beiträge zur Kenntniss des Knochen-Baues der Rhytina Stelleri, von Dr. Alexander v. Nordmann, 4to. Helsingfors, 1861, Acta Soc. Scient. Fennicæ, tom. vii. with 5 plates).
page 416 note 3 That the appearance of these grotesque animals, no doubt frequently seen by the earlier voyagers, both in the East and West Indies and on the coasts of Africa, should have originated the legends of Mermaids and Sirens, seems at first sight incredible; but art was then in its infancy in this country, and doubtless the engraver, who portrayed at second hand the features of the “sea-siren,” had but little assistance in his delineation from the narrator.
page 417 note 1 Ornithopsis Seeleyi, Hulke, had not then been discovered.
page 417 note 2 In Prorastomus canines are also developed; but Rhytina possessed neither.
page 418 note 1 Brandt, , Mém. Imp. Acad. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, 1846, vi. série, pt. ii. Sci. Nat. vol. v. livr. iv. pp. 1–160, tab. i.-v.Google Scholar
page 418 note 2 See Marsh in Silliman's Journal, “On the small size of Brain in the Tertiary Mammalia,” 3rd series, vol. viii. 1874, p. 76, ibid.op. cit. vol. xii. 1876, p. 61 and vol. xxix. 1885, pp. 190–193.
page 418 note 3 Brandt, , “Symbolæ Sirenologicæ,” fasc. iii. 1878, p. 256. Tab. ix. Mém. de l'Acad. Imp. d. Sc. St. Pétersbourg, ser. vii. tom. xii.Google Scholar
page 419 note 3 Brandt, , “Symb. Siren.” Fasc. ii. pp. 8–10, Tab. ii. figs. 11–20Google Scholar. Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersbourg, sér. vii. 1861. See also Claudius, “On the Organs of Hearing in Rhytina,” Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, 1867, vol. xi. No. 5, 2 platesGoogle Scholar.
page 421 note 1 My colleague, Mr. “William Carruthers, F.R.S., F.G.S., Keeper of the Botanical Department, informs me that the large sea-weeds called Laminariæ grow in water at or just below low-water; they are nutritious and are eaten by animals. They abound in the North Pacific Ocean. Ruprecht, in his account of the Algæ of the North Pacific, records eight species of these large weeds growing in the Sea of Ochotsk, on the shores of Kamtschatka, and the north of North America. He adds:—“When I went to see the Coniferous trees at Monterey, California, last autumn, I was surprised at the magnitude and quantity of the Fuci and Laminariæ thrown up on the coast.”
page 422 note 1 “Cyamus Rhytinœ.” Mém. Acad. St. Pétersb. 1871, vol. xvii. No. 7Google Scholar; and Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1872, pp. 306–313.
page 424 note 1 Dr. J. Murie, F.L.S., who has specially studied this group, has expressed his opinion to the writer that there are probably only two distinct species of Halicore and Manatus living at the present day; and that the large number of fossil species described are probably also capable of being reduced at most to two or three genera and species.
