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Show 460 MISS A. CRANE ON THE MANATEE. [Apr. 5, was empty. With jaws and tail-fin pressed closely to the ground, the bodv of the animal becomes arched, and is moved by a violent lateral effort, aided, and slightly supported, by the fore paddles, which are stretched out in a line with the mouth. But the effect of these very laboured efforts was not commensurate with their violence ; in fact their relation to active locomotion may be compared to those of a man lying prone with fettered feet and elbows tied to side. Nor does the Manatee seem at all at ease out of water, as he lies apparently oppressed with his own bulk, while he invariably makes off to the deepest corner of his tank directly the water is readmitted. One point may be regarded as definitely settled. Notwithstanding the predilection they have evinced for land vegetables, they never feed out of water. Food has been repeatedly offered them ; but it always remains untouched, although readily devoured when the influx of water set the leaves floating on the surface. Although it is possible that the animals can get out of water and remain so for a short period, as they progress so slowly and do not feed out of water, it seems as though they must be acquitted of the garden-depredations and prolonged wanderings from their native element with which they have been credited. In the spring of the year 1880 the female Manatee died, after seven months' existence in the Aquarium. The history of the male in the subsequent interval may be epitomized in the words lie still and grow fat. He evinced no grief at the loss of his companion. His fifteen months' life in the institution may be taken as refuting a recent statement by a well-known naturalist in the columns of ' Land and Water,' that these animals "will not feed and cannot be kept in captivity." As his present length (Dec. 1880) is five feet two inches, and his maximum girth four feet ten inches, he has increased four inches in length and ten inches in bulk in the thirteen months that have elapsed between the two measurements. It is evident, therefore, that he thrives well on the sliced roots of swede turnips and carrots which have of late constituted his chief nourishment. Beyond these scanty facts, I have nothing further to record concerning the uneventful life-history in captivity of these silent and individually uninteresting animals. In conclusion I would tender m y best thanks to Mr. Thomas Davidson, F.R.S., for his kindness in furnishing me with a sketch from nature of the animal, and to Mr. A. Lawler, resident naturalist at the Aquarium, for information courteously afforded. P.S.-The male died on February 8, 1881, having been seventeen months all but five days in the tank. It measured 5 feet 2 inches in length, having grown 4 inches during its captivity. It appears to have suffered from the exceptionally severe weather of the latter part of January ; but the body, which was presented by the Directors to the Museum of the College of Surgeons, was In good condition, and showed no evidence of disease in any of the viscera. |