[Fig. 58] shows its skeleton, 19 ft. 6 in. long, now preserved in the Geological Collection at South Kensington (Glass-case N). The skeletons are found, in the islands, at a distance from the shore in old raised beaches and peat-mosses, deeply buried and thickly overgrown with grass. They are discovered by boring into the peat with an iron rod, just as timber is found in Irish peat-bogs. (See restoration, [Plate XXVI.])
Steller records that when he came to Behring’s Island, the Sea-cows fed in the shallows along the shore, and collected in herds like cattle. Every few minutes they raised their heads in order to get more air before descending again to browse on the thick sea-weed (probably Laminaria) surrounding the coast. With regard to their habits, they were very slow in their movements: mild and inoffensive in disposition. Their colour was dark brown, sometimes varied with spots. The skin was naked; but thick, hard, and rugged. They are said to have sometimes reached a length of thirty-five feet, when full grown. Most of their time was spent in browsing, and whilst so occupied, were not easily disturbed. Their attachment to each other was great, so that when one was harpooned, the others made great attempts to rescue it. According to Steller, they were so heavy that it required forty men with ropes to drag the body of one to land.
STELLER’S SEA-COW, RHYTINA GIGAS.
Found alive by Steller at Behring’s Island. Length 19 feet 6 inches.
When, in 1743, the news of the discovery of Behring Island reached Kamtchatka, several expeditions were fitted out for the purpose of hunting the sea-cow and the various fur-bearing animals, such as the sea-otter, fur seal, and blue fox, which are found there; and very soon many whaling vessels began to stop there to lay in a supply of sea-cow meat for food. So great was the destruction wrought by these whalers and fur-hunters that in 1754, only thirteen years after its discovery, the sea-cow had become practically exterminated. In 1768, according to the investigations of Dr. L. Stejneger of the U. S. National Museum, Washington, who has made a most careful study of the question, this large and important marine mammal became wholly extinct, the last individual ever seen alive having been killed in that year; and the fate which overtook Rhytina so speedily has almost become that of the buffalo, and will as certainly become that of the fur seal unless it be protected.
It may interest the reader, especially if he be a traveller, to know that, besides the fine specimen of Rhytina in the Natural History Museum, already alluded to, good skeletons are possessed by the Museums of St. Petersburg, Helsingsfors (Finland), Stockholm, U. S. National Museum, Washington, as well as portions of skeletons by other museums.
The Sirenians are an ancient race, for their remains have been found in Tertiary strata, of various ages, from Eocene to Pleistocene, over the greater part of Europe—in England, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, and Italy; also near Cairo. In the New World, fossil Sirenians have been found in South Carolina, New Jersey, and Jamaica.
Another European species is the Halitherium, from the Miocene rocks of Hesse-Darmstadt, of which a cast may be seen in the Natural History Museum, South Kensington. Its length is 7 ft. 8 in. The teeth in this form resembled those of the Dugong.