September 1, 1898.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



193 



lYERAT^MA^ 



Founded in i88i by RICHARD A, PROCTOR. 



LONDON: SEPTEMBER 1, 1898. 



CONTENTS. 



Whale Models at the Natural History Museum. By 



R, Ltdekkbr, B.A., F.E.3. {Illustrated) 



Repetition and Evolution in Bird-Song. B.v Charies 



A. WiTCHKLL 



The Karkinokosm, or World of Crustacea.— V. By 

 tlie Kev. Ttomas R. R. Stkbbiso, m.a., f.r.s., f.l.s. 

 {Illustrated ami Plate) 



Economic Botany. By John R. Jackson, a.l.s., etc. ... 



British Ornithological Notes. Conducted by Habbt F. 



WlTHEBBT, F.Z.S., M.B.O.TT 



Letters :— David Flanbkt (Illmtrated) ; H. W. II. 



Lagerwey, ll.d. ; Abthitb East 



Science Notes 



Variable Stars of Short Period. By Edwabd C. 



Pickering. {Illustrated) 

 The Astronomy of the "Canterbury Tales. By E. 



Walter Maunder, f.r.a.s 



Notices of Books 



Short Notices ... 



Books Keckited 



" Insect Miners,"— II. Br Feed. Enock, f.l.s., f.e.s., etc. 



{Illustrated} .' 



Botanical Studies. — V. Asplenium. By A. Vaushan 



Jennings, f.l.s., f.o.s. {Illustrated) 



Notes on Comets and Meteors. By W. F. Deitnino, 



F.R.A.S 



The Face of the Sky for September. By A. Fowxbb, 



P.B.A.S 



Chess Column. By C. B. Lococe, b.a 



205 



207 

 209 

 209 



209 



211 



213 



214 

 215 



WHALE MODELS AT THE NATURAL HISTORY 

 MUSEUM. 



By E. Lydekxer, b.a., f.r.s. 



ALTHOUGH many of us have from time to time 

 witnessed the evolutions of a shoal of porpoises 

 from some seaside pier, or the deck of a coasting 

 vessel, while more fortunate individuals have 

 enjoyed the spectacle of a whale rising from the 

 water by the side of an ocean steamer, or have seen a 

 stranded specimen on the beach, to the majority of lands- 

 men the larger members of the Cetacean order have 

 hitherto been more or less mysterious creatures. Their 

 proper form and size have been but vaguely realized, and 

 their peculiarities of structure most imperfectly conceived. 

 Not improbably there are still in existence persons whose 

 knowledge of whales is mainly, if not exclusively, limited 

 to "whalebone" and sperm-whale teeth, and who have 

 some vague idea that the two are products of one and the 

 same animal. A year or so ago anyone who visited even 

 the most advanced and up-to-date museum would have 

 come away with little more idea of the external form and 

 dimensions of these mighty denizens of the deep than the 



misleading and unsatisfactory impressions that can be 

 gathered from a study of their bare skeletons. It is true 

 that in some Continental museums, like the one in Paris, 

 easts of stranded examples of some of the smaller species 

 have for some time been exhibited, but the distorted and 

 " flabby " condition of the animals themselves when thrown 

 ashore rendered the resulting plaster-casts very far indeed 

 from affording a lifelike representative of the species, 

 while their comparatively small size precluded the realiza- 

 tion of the vast dimensions attained by the giants of the 

 group. 



This unsatisfactory condition of affairs has been totally 

 changed by the opening on Whit Monday last of the new 

 Whale Gallery in the Natural History Branch of the 

 British Museum. Here, for the first time in the history 

 of the world, may be seen some of the largest representa- 

 tives of the Cetacean order modelled of the natural size, 

 and as lifelike in appearance as the resources of modern 

 skill and science can make them. The exhibition is indeed 

 a truly marvellous one, and its conception and successful 

 execution will remain as a permanent memorial of the 

 administration of Sir W. H. Flower, whose great aim 

 has been to make the great institution under his charge 

 as popular and instructive as possible, and under whose 

 immediate personal superintendence the present addition 

 was carried out from first to last. 



From an educational point of view the value of the new 

 exhibition cannot be over estimated ; from a purely popular 

 standpoint, as a " show," it will be very hard indeed to beat ; 

 while even to the professed naturalist it is of the highest 

 interest, and presents several problems stiU requiring 

 elucidation as to details of form in one or two species. 

 Mystery in regard to our conceptions of the form of these 

 huge denizens of the deep is, however, practically at an 

 end ; and for the future there ought to be no misconception 

 as to the nature and position in the body of the substances 

 respectively known as whalebone and spermaceti, and the 

 animals to which they severally belong. Much importance 

 has been rightly attached by the Director to an adequate 

 supply of carefully-written descriptive labels, and these 

 have been placed in positions convenient for the study of 

 the groups or species to which they refer. The labels are 

 of two kinds — large and small ; the former referring to 

 groups and the latter to particular species. Of the large 

 labels, aU of which are affixed in conspicuous positions on 

 the walls of the buildings, the first gives in popular form 

 the leading distinctive features of the order Cetacea, 

 which, it is almost needless to observe, includes not only 

 the animals commonly known as whales, but likewise 

 porpoises, grampuses, and dolphins. The first point 

 necessary to a right comprehension of the mutual relations 

 of these animals is to thoroughly realize \p.e difference 

 between the whalebone whales and the toothed whales, 

 or those which produce whalebone, or baleen, and those 

 whose mouths are simply armed with teeth, of larger or 

 smaller size and number. To emphasize the distinction, 

 the whalebone whales, whether models or skeletons, have 

 all been set up with their heads pointing to the north end 

 of the gallery, while all the toothed whales are turned 

 in the opposite direction ; the distinctive features of the 

 two groups being likewise clearly set forth in large labels 

 on the walls. Yet another set of similar sized labels 

 enables the public to grasp the difference between right- 

 whales and rorquals ; while the characteristics of the 

 individual species exhibited are displayed on smaller labels 

 mounted on stands placed in front of the specimens to 

 which they refer. 



Those of our readers who have seen the gallery (and it 

 may be hoped that those who have not will take the earliest 



