Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1878-07-27

The London Daily Ne,cs says: Ar
important addition has just been made,
rivaling, perhaps, in interest the cele.
brated gorilla "Pongo," to the Natural
History Department of the Aquarium,
this novelty being gigantic manatee,
or West Indian mermaid, which arrived
at Glasgow last Monday, and is the sec
ond specimen ever brought to Europe
of this now nearly extinct kind of ami
NAL. 1t is, in fact, a very good exam
pie of the species, being about nine feet
long, and weighing about half a ton,
while it is roughly conjectured TO be
about six years old. The manatee is
scientifically the American and African
representative of the group of syrene !;
the dugong being the Eastern one, and
still existing on the coasts of India and
Australia. The rhytine, or northern
manatee, is now quite extinct, but was
often found in Behring's Strait up to
about a century ago. This female spec
linen was caught in a net on the Daunt-
less Bank, off the Island of Leguan,
north of Essequibo River, British
Guiana, by some native fishermen. 1t
is very rarely seen now in that tropical
district, being the first specimen found
within three years. After its capture it
was taken to Demerara and there pur-
chased by Capt. Picott, of the Direct
Line West India Steamboat Company.
On the passage in the Blenheim it fed
freely for a time on the leaves and fruit
of the moco-moco and also on those of
of the mangrove, brought from Demer-
ara. When these were exhausted it fed
on bread and hay, chiefly the latter.
During the voyage constant attention
was required to see that the water in
which it was conveyed was kept
at proper temperature-name-
ly, from 20 to IS degrees
Fahrenheit. Last Sunday morning
the manager of the Aquarium received
an intimatiOn of its departure from
and thereupon he arranged
that Mr.. John L. Darlington, the
of the society, should proceed
TO Glasgow to await the arrival of the
Blenheim. After the ship had been met
in the Clyde a lively competition COM
among the Aquarium managers,
the result being that Mr.. Darlington Sc
cured the stranger. 1t took 35 men to
raise the large tank in which the ami
NAL was conveyed to q covered carriage
.ruck which was in waiting at the St.
Enoch's Station of the Midland Rail-
way. Mr.. Smith, the station-master,
afforded all possible assistance, and in
iue course the creature arrived in Lon
Ion. This curious animal has mamme
Iery much like those of the human be
ng, and this peculiatity, combined with
is curious habit of lifting the fore part
# the body out of the water while
for food, doubtless gave rise to
he fables of the mermaid. However
idiculous the ancient notions may now
'e considered, they are nevertheless to
'e satisfactorily explained. The mana
ee, with its fish-like tail, the roundish |
lead and the mamma of the breast,
suggested fables of mermaids
II sirens Turing the mariner to his de-
truction. The manatee is mentioned |
n Westward Ho!" by the late Canon
Kingsley, who devoted so much of the
after part of his life to wandering in
he West Indies. Mr.. Robertson, the
;eneral Manager, and Mr.. Darlington,
he Naturalist of the Aquarium, may
Iell be congratulated on the acquisition
I what is only the fourth specimen of
MS animal taken within the last ten
ears, though historical records show
nat it abounded in the buccaneering
sc.