Hartlaub on the Manatees

Abstract

AMONGST other interesting articles with which Dr. t Spengel's new zoological journal has commenced its career is one by Dr. Clemens Hartlaub (son of the veteran ornithologist of the same name) which deserves special attention, as devoted to a somewhat neglected and imperfectly known group of the class of mammals—the Manatees or “sea-cows,” as they are popularly called. The Manatees constitute, as is well known, one of the three modern representatives of the formerly more extensive order of Sirenians, or “Herbivorous Cetaceans” as they are sometimes, though not very correctly, denominated; for it is doubtful whether they have any near relationship to the true Whales. One of these three forms—the Rhytina stelleri—is already extinct; the other two—the Manatee and Dugong—are rapidly diminishing in numbers before the advancing tide of civilisation, and it is highly desirable that full details of their structure and habits should be obtained and recorded before they are “improved” off the face of the earth.

Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Manatus-Arten.

Von Dr. Clemens Hartlaub (Bremen). Separatabdruck a.d. Zoologischen Jahrbüchern, Band I. (1886.)