20 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE 



work. However, the Osteological, Mammalian, Cetacean, Mollus- 

 can, Starfish, Eeptilian, and Fish Galleries hare their contents 

 now fairly arranged in a general manner, although many details 

 remain still to be worked out befoi'e these Gralleries can be made 

 accessible to the public and to students. 



Tlie Osteological Gallery has been furnished with cases so 

 constructed that not only the Osteological preparations but also 

 the study series of skins of Mammalia could be lodged in it. It 

 will be most convenient for the student of tliis class of A'^erte- 

 brata, wlio will find particular facilities for his study in having 

 the exhibited collection in close proximity, namely in the gallery 

 directly beneath. 



This latter gallery is (as indeed had been anticipated) none 

 too large for the exhibition of Mammalia, the length of cases 

 exceeding that in the old Museum only by some seventy feet ; 

 and although a great number of the deteriorated specimens 

 have been removed, they were almost immediately rej^laced by the 

 better -mounted specimens from more recent acquisitions. There 

 are therefore unmistakable signs of crowding in tiie gallery. In 

 consequence of this the plan of exhibiting in the same cases with 

 the stuflfed Mammalia a series of the skeletons of types of families 

 had to be abandoned ; and these skeletons will now be exhibited 

 in separate cases of suitable size placed in the bays between the 

 principal cases. This mode of exhibition will have the advantage 

 that tlie specimens will be much more accessible to study and 

 examination than if they were placed among the stufied speci- 

 mens in the main cases. 



For the collection of Cetaceans a large part of the basement 

 has been partitioned off. This gallery, which is 138 feet long and 

 60 feet broad, affords room for the skeletons of seven of the 

 largest species of Cetaceans ; the spaces between them being 

 occupied by smaller mounted sjieeimeus and skeletons, together 

 with table-cases holding skulls and other prejjarations. 



In the Eeptile as well as in the Fish Gallery, skeletons of the 

 principal types are placed among the mounted specimens ; and a 

 strictly systematic sequence is observed in the arrangement of 

 these classes. The Batrachians have been transferred from the 

 Reptiles, with which they had been associated in the old building, 

 to the Fish Gallery, where they occupy a table-case in close 

 proximity to the Dipnoi. In both these galleries the majority 

 of the bulky specimens, which in the old Museum were suspended 

 from the walls, occuj^y now places in the middle of the floor, 

 where they are accessible to close examination. 



In the Starfish Gallery a complete set of all the genera of 

 Echinoderms is exhibited, supplemented by a series of drawings 

 and models illustrating the development of some of the priucijjal 

 types. 



The mechanical work of arraugemeut of these great collections 



