NA TURE 



3 l 3 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 1883 



ZOOLOGY AT THE FISHERIES EXHIBITION* 

 II. — Notes on the Vertebrala 



AT the request of the editor of Nature I have drawn 

 up this very general report on the Vertebrate 

 animals now exhibited in the natural history sections of 

 the different Courts at the International Fisheries Exhi- 

 bition. In its compilation I have principally used the 

 notes taken during a month's pretty close attendance at 

 the great piscatorial show in South Kensington, and 

 whilst doing work on the two special juries who had to 

 examine and report on such collections. The space and 

 time conceded preclude entirely anything like a detailed 

 account even of this small portion of the rich and varied 

 exhibit, whilst on the other hand books of reference could 

 not be consulted, and strict nomenclature and systematic 

 arrangement must be partly sacrificed. I shall, however, 

 be content if I succeed in giving a fair general account 

 of this special part of the Fisheries Exhibition, which 

 cannot but interest many of the readers of this periodical 

 to whom the sight of the exhibits themselves, some of 

 very great interest, is not possible. I may also add that 

 to my knowledge one group, that of Birds, will be the 

 subject of a special article, to be published shortly in a 

 special journal by one of our leading ornithologists, whilst 

 on the other hand the Cetacea and Pinnipeda will be 

 reported on in the jurors' reports by such distinguished 

 specialists as Prof. Flower and Mr. Clark. I do not 

 know whether any special report on the all-important and 

 largely represented group of Fishes be imminent ; I fear 

 not ; but as several highly competent ichthyologists have 

 carefully gone over such collections in the Exhibition, I 

 trust that so important a subject will also be laid before 

 the scientific world by a competent reporter. 



Before commencing my special task, and before taking 

 the reader through the Vertebrate collections in the Interna- 

 tional Fisheries Exhibition, for which purpose I consider 

 preferable a zoological to a geographical arrangement, I 

 shall say a few words on the relative importance of the ex- 

 hibits in this section contributed by different countries. Be- 

 sides Great Britain and her dependencies,colonies,and pos- 

 sessions, such as the Isle of Man, Heligoland, Canada and 

 Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, British Columbia, the Baha- 

 mas, Jamaica, New South Wales, Tasmania, India, Ceylon, 

 and the Straits Settlements, the folloningforeign countries 

 have contributed to the Fisheries Exhibition : France 

 (not officially), Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany (not 

 officially), Denmark (not officially), Sweden and Norway, 

 Russia, Austria and Hungary, Italy (not officially), 

 Greece, Spain, Switzerland, the United States, Chili, 

 Venezuela, Haiti, China, Japan, Morocco, and Hawaii. 

 Of these, however, nearly a third, viz. France, Germany, 

 Italy, Venezuela, Haiti, Morocco, Japan, and Hawaii 

 have no exhibit to call for our attention, while another 

 third show so little, and that of so small a value that they 

 hardly deserve a passing notice. In the richness, value, 

 and beauty of the Vertebrata exhibited, the foreign 

 countries who compete for the palm are Sweden and the 



1 Continued from p. 291. 



Vol. xxviii.— No. 718 



United States of America, far above all the rest in this 

 respect. Great Britain is, on the other hand, singularly 

 defective, none of her great public institutions having 

 taken any part in the competition; this may be partly 

 accounted for by the close proximity of the Buckland 

 Collection of Economic Fishery, adjoining the Fisheries 

 Exhibition, while not much further is the new Natural 

 History Museum in the Cromwell Road, and in this case 

 it is much to be regretted that, at a time when many inte- 

 rested in fish and ichthyology have been attracted from 

 afar by the Fisheries Exhibition, the zoological collections, 

 and more especially the ichthyological ones, are not in a 

 condition to be open to public inspection. However, if 

 Great Britain is, with a single exception, meagrely repre- 

 sented by a few private exhibits in the Vertebrate col.ee- 

 tions, it is not so with some of her colonies and 

 possessions, and the Courts occupied by the exhibits of 

 New South Wales, Tasmania, and India are rich in 

 specimens of much interest and great scientific value, 

 while the Dominion of Canada is (in respect of Verte- 

 brates) not far behind them. 



The mammals ought in this case to be divided into two 

 groups, those which are fished and those which fish, but 

 I prefer to classify them scientifically rather than popu- 

 larly. Carnivora mostly belong, when aquatic, to the 

 latter group ; amongst the more abundant are of course 

 the otters, and especially our European kind, of which 

 many specimens are in the British Natural History 

 Gallery ; Canada, India, and Chili show specimens of 

 those belonging to their waters, and I was pleased to see 

 in the latter Court fine specimens of my old friend Lut/u 

 feUna, whose marine habits and agility amongst the kelp- 

 beds of Western Patagonia I witnessed many a time. 

 A tew Polar bears are also shown, a very large and 

 fine specimen being in the Russian Court ; while 

 Musteline Carnivora of more or less fishing propensities 

 are to be seen amongst the Canadian exhibits. Seals 

 and Otarice form of course a prominent feature in 

 the Exhibition ; foremost in beauty and rarity is no doubt 

 H istriophoca fasciata of the Behring Sea ; the Vega ex- 

 hibit shows a skull and a rather inflated and dilapidated 

 skin, whilst a magnificent specimen is exhibited by the 

 National Museum, Washington ; these are, I believe, the 

 first specimens of that rare mammal ever seen in this 

 country. Some good specimens of Cystophora, Ph. bar- 

 bata, Ph. grcenlandica, Ph. gryphus, are to be seen in 

 the Canadian and Newfoundland exhibits, the latter be- 

 longing mostly, I am told, to the Liverpool Museum. 

 Tasmania shows a splendid specimen of Stenorhyiichus 

 leptonyx. A large but badly mounted walrus is in the 

 British gallery ; but the enormous tusks and cranium and 

 the life-like head of the Pacific species (T. obesus), of 

 whose specific distinctness I should however greatly doubt, 

 call for special attention in the United States department ; 

 the very beautiful sketches from life of those unwieldy 

 creatures and of the agile fur seals, drawn by Mr. Elliott 

 in the Pribylov Islands, deserve much praise. The Otarice 

 are represented by a fine group of O. itrsina <J and 9> 

 the principal source of the sealskin industry, in the United 

 States exhibit, mounted very beautifully indeed ; an in- 

 teresting group of Arctocephalus cinercus is conspicuous 

 in the New South Wales Court, in which is a young speci- 

 men of what appears to be a distinct species ; Chili has 



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