The Portland daily press., 1894-02-13
THE MOTHER OF MERMAIDs.
To the Scientific World She Is Known
Merely as the Dugong.

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To the Scientific World She Is Known
Merely as the Dugong.
To the scientific world the mermaid is
known as the dugong, and, while she is
more or less interesting to the naturalist
as being the inoffensive cause of the mer-
maid myths, she is still more interesting
to him because she is dugong, for the
dugong has been battling for existence in
the marine world for centuries and is about
to lose her identity among her aquatic
neighbors of the southern deep. The du-
gong is becoming rapidly extinct. A speci-
men is seldom captured, and the one in
possession of the San Francisco Academy
Of Sciences is regarded as an extraordinary
prize.
Every nation under the sun has contrib
uted to the mythical evolution of the du-
gong from a mem Der of the manatee fami-
ly of mammalia to beautiful sea siren
with dangerous eyes and flowing hair,
who wooes foolish mariners to destruction,
and the folklore of every nation has diff
ferent idea of the appearance of the mer-
maid The crafty Chinese and Japanese
have even manufactured hideous sem
blance to woman fish, and great paint
ers have deigned to commit to canvas their
conception of the siren. The unattractive,
motherly dugong was the cause of it all.
The dugong forms the connecting link
between the real whale and the seals and
walruses. Like the whale, the animal has
no hind feet, but powerful horizontal
tail It's anterior extremities are more
fexibly jointed than those of the whale,
and this is distinguishing characteristic
between the two animals. The dugong is
said to have attained length of 20 feet.
The specimen at the academy is nearly
feet long and has been very well preserved.
In appearance the animal resemb les the
manatee, or sea COW. It's upper lip is large,
thick and feshy, and its snout is like the
trunk of an elephant cut short across.
When the dugong is nursing it's young,
its breasts are enlarged SO as to be almost
human in their aspect. The nursing proc
ess is carried on by the mother above wa
ter. The baby dugong is pressed against
the exposed breast with one of mamma
dugong's fippers, and in this position the
animal swims horizontally through the
water, using her remaining fipper to pro-
pei herself along. It is this singular char
acteristic of the animal that has given
rise to the fable of the mermaid.
Sir James Emerson Tennent, the emil
nent naturalist, says: "The rude approach
to the human outline observable in the
shape of the head of this creature and the
attitude of the mother while sucking her
young, holding it to her breast with one
f1ipper, and while swimming with the 9TH
er holding the heads of both above water,
and when disturbed suddenly diving and
displaying her fishlike tail-these, togeth-
er with her habitual demonstrations of
strong maternal affection, probably gave
rise to the fable of the mermaid" Ten
nent traces the origin of the myth to the
gilt edged tales of early Arabian sailors
who had watched the strange antics of the
dugong in the waters of the Manaar.
Still another characteristic of the animal
that contributes to its naturalization in
mythology and heraldry is the peculiarly
humanlike, plaintive cry which it gives
when its young is imperiled or becomes de-
tached from lis motherly but muscular
hold. According to Rnppell, it was with
the skin of this mammal that the Jews
were directed to veil the temple.
The best proof that the dugong has been
but imperfectly described by naturalists is
the contradictory accounts of it given by
scientists. Tennent says it gives no oil
whatsoever, anu bne dutnor u Vouuofs
of the Deep declares that 4 1000 bottles of
oil have been obtained from one dugong.
It is sort of marine cosmopolite, for it
has been found in the northern seas, along
the tropical coasts and streams of Africa
and America, in the Red sea and Indian
ocean.
Many years ago missionaries in South
America ate the flesh of the dugong dur
ing the Lenten season. imagining that it
was fish, 1t is classified as a mammal,
however, so that the simple missionaries
transgresssd the conditions of their fast
without knowing it.
But the dugong is doomed to extinction.
In few years, according to the reckoning
of scientists, it will have disappeared en-
tirely.-San Francisco Examiner. g.