The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-20

esting to the naturalist as being the in
offensive cause Of the mermaid 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 the aquatic neighbors of
the southern deep. The dugong Is becom-
ing rapidly extinct. 4 specimen is sell
dom captured, and the one in the passes
sion of the academy is regarded as an ex-
traordinary prize. g.
Every nation under the sun has con
tributed to the mythical evolution of the
dugong from member of the manatee
family of mammalia to a beautiful sea
siren with dangerous eyes and flowing
hair, who woos foolish mariners to de-
struetien, and the folk lore of every ma
tion has a different idea of the appear
ance of the mermaid. The crafty Chinese
and Japanese have even manufactured a
hideous semblance to a woman fish, and
great painters have deigned to commit to
| canvas their conception of the siren. The
unattractiYe, motherly dugong was the
cause of 1t 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 horizon
tai tail. It's anterior extremities are
more fexibly iointed than those of the
| Wudlb, dAu Wills 10 d utSuIlS CHAR
! aeteristic between the two animals The
dugong is said TO have attained length
,'of twenty feet, but the usual length is
from eight to twelve feet. The specimen
at the academy is nearly seven feet long,
and has been very well preserved.
In appearance the animal resembles the
manatee or sea COW. Its upper lip is
| large, thick and fieshy, and its snout is,
| like the trunk of an elephant, cut short
across.
| When the dugong is nursing its young
| its breasts are enlarged so as to be almost
| human in their aspect. The nursing
progress is carried on by the mother
| above water. The baby dugOng is
| pressed to the exposed breast with one
of mamma dugongs fiippers, and in this
! position the animal swims horizontally
| through the water using her remaining
| flipper to propel herself along. 1t is this
singular characteristic of the animal
that has given rise to the fable of the
mermaid.
Sir James Emerson Tennent, the emf
nent naturalists, says: The rude ap-
| proach 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 swim
! ming with the other, holding the heads
! of both above water, and when disturbed
suddenly diving and displaying her fish
like tail-these, together with her habit
ual demonstrations of strong maternal
affection, probably gave rise to the fable
| of the mermaid"
| Tennent traces the origin Of the myth
TO the gilt-edged tales of the early Arabian
sailors who had watched the strange
antics of the dugong in the waters Of the
Manaar. 1885,. a.
Still another characteristic of the ami
hot ,NseiL, ted to 1o1s
tion in mythology and heraldry is the pc
culiarly human-like, plaintive cry which
! it gives when its young is imperiled or be-
| comes detached from its motherly but
muscular hold. According to Ruppell, it
was with the skin of the mammal that
! the Jews were directed to veil the temple
! The best proof that the dugonR has
been but imperfectly described by natur-
alists is the contradictory accounts given
| by scientists. Tennent says it gives no
| oil whatever, and the author of Wonders
| of the Deep declares that 1000 bottles
! Of oil have been obtained from one dugong
| 1t is sort of marine cosmopolite, for 1t
! has been found in the northern seas, along
| the tropical coasts and streams of Africa
| aud America, in the Red sea and the In
dian 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
transgressed the conditions of their fast
without knowing it. The flesh tastes
| very much like ham.
| But the dugong is doomed to extinction
| In few years, according TO the reckon
! ings of scientists. it will have disappeared
| entirely. Nothing will remain to Justify
! the legendsof the mermaid but the stuffed
| specimens of the animal in museums, and
! these remnants, below their scientific cap
! tion, may well be tagged: THE History
! of an Immortal Lie"