Bibliography Record
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Steller, Georg Wilhelm
(detail)
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1751 |
De bestiis marinis.
Novi Comm. Acad. Sci. Petropolitanae 2: 289-398. Pls. 14-16.
–Allen 257. See also Mém. Acad. Sci. (4)11 (=25?): 294-330? Engl. transl.: Steller (1899), which is the version fully indexed here. For a critical edition of the original Latin text of the introduction, see Mattioli (2019). French transl.: F. Cuvier (1836). German transls.: Steller (1753a, b); J. C. Adelung (1768).
This description of the marine mammals of Bering Island, perhaps Steller's greatest work, is justly renowned for its detail and precision, despite having been written by a man literally shipwrecked on a desert island, with only a few books and under extremely difficult physical conditions. It was, moreover, published posthumously (after Steller's untimely death in 1746), without benefit of final revisions or corrections by its author, which doubtless accounts for some errors and discrepancies in the text. (For comparison of the printed work with the original manuscript, see P. P. Pekarskiy, 1869.) Nonetheless it provides a clear and thorough description of four previously unknown large marine mammals: the sea otter (Enhydra lutris), the fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus), Steller's sea lion (Eumetopias jubata), and Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas). This paper must therefore rank high on any list of the truly heroic achievements in natural history. Moreover, as it is by far the most detailed eyewitness account of the sea cow (though not, as sometimes imagined, the only one) and the only one written by a trained naturalist, it will forever remain our chief source of information on the biology of this great animal.
The section on the "Manati" which Steller discovered on Bering Island comprises the measurements (294-296) and a detailed account of the external (296-309) and internal anatomy (309-318) of a 7.5-meter female killed on July 12, 1742, with a description of the species' osteology (318-320), habits, and natural history (320-330), including parasites (311, 330). Pl. 14 illustrates the rostral masticating plates, which were the only specimens of Hydrodamalis which Steller was able to take with him when he left the island. Although he did not propose here any formal name for the sea cow (which would have been pre-Linnaean in any case), this verbal description was the ultimate and sole basis for all subsequent names applied to the species; no type specimens were ever designated. Likewise this description served as the basis for the names of the parasites Sirenocyamus Rhytinae J. F. Brandt, 1846 and Ascaris Rytinae Diesing, 1851.
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Related Index Records (2)
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Bering Sea
(SEE ALSO: Alaska; Asia; Hydrodamalis and synonyms; Pacific Ocean)
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1751 |
Steller, G.W. (HG; Bering Is.; anatomy & natural history) |
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Hydrodamalis gigas (Zimmermann, 1780) Palmer, 1895
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1751 |
Steller, G.W. (HG; Bering Is.; anatomy & natural history) |
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