BOOM I. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 11 



the left of the doorway, an admirable model (executed by 

 Mr. Dew, the palaeontological modeller and sculptor of the 

 Museum) of the carapace, or shell of a young individual of 

 the extinct Colossal Tortoise of India (Colossochelys Atlas), 

 of which there are many fossil remains in the collection. 

 This specimen is ten feet long, twenty-five feet in horizontal 

 circumference, and fifteen feet in girth in a vertical direction ; 

 gigantic as are these proportions, they are one-third less 

 than those of the adult original. 



ROOM I. 



(53 feet long, Wfeet wide.) 



SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 



ORGANIC REMAINS. 



WALL-CASES. Fossil Vegetables, Chiefly on the south and 

 west sides of the room. The arrangement is botanical ; the 

 simplest forms of vegetable structure, the Algce, &c. are in 

 the first case, to the right of the entrance. 



A. [1. A, B, c.] Algce and Fuel (Fossil sea-plants). With 

 these are several vegetables whose characters are not accu- 

 rately determined j they belong to a higher group, as Aster o- 

 phyllites, Annularia, Pilularites, &c. 



B. [2. B, c, D, E.] On the upper shelves are the Equi- 

 setacece, i.e. plants allied to the Equisetum, or Mare's-tail 

 (Calamites). On the lower division are Filicites, or fossil 

 ferns, of many species and genera. 



On the top of this case there are stems of several species 

 of Calamites, from the Coal formation. 



C. [3. A, B, c, D, E, F.] On the shelves of the upper division 

 are many beautiful specimens of the flattened stems of 

 Sigillarice, and of Lycopodiacece or Club-mosses, from the 

 Coal strata. 



The lower compartment contains numerous species of ferns, 

 in clay-slate or shale, from similar deposits ; and others from 

 the Oolite. 



