Spix, Johann Baptist von

1 publication

Spix, Johann Baptist von; Martius, Carl Friedr. Phil. von (detail)
1831Reise in Brasilien auf Befehl Sr. Majestät Maximilian Joseph I. Königs von Baiern in den Jahren 1817 bis 1820 gemacht.... Dritter und letzter Theil....
Munich, bei dem Verfasser; Leipzig, Friedr. Fleischer (entire work: 3 vols., 1823-31): Vol. 3: lvi + 887-1388. 1 map.
—Allen 774. Repr. Stuttgart, 1967. Discusses the distribution (coastal and fluviatile), natural history, and economic uses of "Manatus americanus" in Brazil (1122-1123). States that manatees are hunted at high water; that they reach a size of 20 feet and 80 hundredweight in the Amazon basin; that the Indians believe their gestation lasts 11 months and their nursing half a year; and that the Indians "commit a shameful vice" with captured manatees, especially females, to increase their luck in the hunt.