Manatees
Date
1879
Creator
Joseph Smit (1836 - 1929, Dutch) , Illustrator
Creator - Organisation
M & N Hanhart, Lithographer
Object type
Library reference
41158
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (page): 310mm
width (page): 241mm
width (page): 241mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Zoological study of two manatees, likely Amazonian manatees, Trichechus inunguis, [listed here as Manatus australis] found in the Amazon Basin. One manatee is fully submerged in water, while the other is part submerged and eating greenery from the lake floor. They appear in a shallow body of water, with reeds in the background.
Table 7 from Biologia centrali-Americana; or, Contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and central America, the Mammalia volume, authored by Edward Aliston and co-edited by Frederick Du Cane Godman and Osbert Salvin.
Inscribed above: ‘Biol Centr Am Mammalia Tab 7’, and below: ‘J Smit lith MANATUS AUSTRALIS Hanhart imp. 141’.
Written in the associated text: ‘Our illustration [..] well represents the curious position which that animal habitually assumed when at rest. Dr. H. C. Chapman describes a Manatee, which lived for some time in the Zoological Gardens at Philadelphia, as “resting by the tip of his tail on the floor of the aquarium, his head downward, and with his back much arched”’.
Frederick Du Cane Godman (1834-1919) British entomologist and ornithologist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1882.
Osbert Salvin (1835-1898) British naturalist and ornithologist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1873.
Table 7 from Biologia centrali-Americana; or, Contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and central America, the Mammalia volume, authored by Edward Aliston and co-edited by Frederick Du Cane Godman and Osbert Salvin.
Inscribed above: ‘Biol Centr Am Mammalia Tab 7’, and below: ‘J Smit lith MANATUS AUSTRALIS Hanhart imp. 141’.
Written in the associated text: ‘Our illustration [..] well represents the curious position which that animal habitually assumed when at rest. Dr. H. C. Chapman describes a Manatee, which lived for some time in the Zoological Gardens at Philadelphia, as “resting by the tip of his tail on the floor of the aquarium, his head downward, and with his back much arched”’.
Frederick Du Cane Godman (1834-1919) British entomologist and ornithologist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1882.
Osbert Salvin (1835-1898) British naturalist and ornithologist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1873.
Associated place