3M 



NA TURE 



\August 2, 1883 



several interesting specimens of an Otaria from Juan 

 Fernandez, a true Loboa dospelos, which might be the 

 rare Otaria Philippii. 



The strange and uncouth Sirenia are represented by a 

 grand specimen, one of the principal attractions to every 

 naturalist in the entire Exhibition, the nearly complete 

 skeleton of a Rhytitia Stelleri, which, with other bones of 

 that most interesting creature is exhibited by Baron 

 Nordenskjold, one of the many grand results of the 

 Vega expedition ; the National Museum of Washington 

 shows a very fine skull of that peculiar, rare, and extinct 

 Sirenoid. Very interesting, and more noticed by the 

 general public, are the two fine mounted specimens, male 

 and female, of the Dugong (Halicore australis), exhibited 

 by the Australian Museum of Sydney. 



The Cetacea contribute an important portion of the 

 Vertebrate series, and now and then afford instruction of 

 a novel and rather startling nature ; thus the large 

 skeleton of Balcenoptera musculus, covered with luminous 

 paint and set up in the Garden, shows some remark- 

 able innovations in practical osteology, the natural 

 asymmetry of the skeleton of these creatures is most 

 vividly exaggerated, and we are shown various of the larger 

 paired bones curiously displaced from right to left, and 

 vice versdj but this is not all, we are told that the whale 

 before us, which by the way was noticed by no less a man 

 than Prof. Flower, when cast upon these shores, is the 

 Greenland Whale {Baitzna mysticetus), and the large 

 label thus headed further informs us that it grows to be 

 75 feet long, swims at the rate of four miles an hour, and 

 possesses a tongue so thick and fleshy, that when the 

 mouth is closed it envelops the upper jaw and all the 

 horny lamina (baleen plates) along it ! Not far off a Berlin 

 dealer in whalebone, Isaac Mann, shows a fine series of 

 baleen plates belonging to several species, but he startles 

 us with the announcement in large letters that "the 

 whale can grow to the length of 200 feet, reach the age of 

 1000 years, the weight of 20 tons, and is therefore the 

 largest of known fishes." But from the comical and 

 amusing, let us return to more serious and interesting 

 matter ; amongst the mounted and entire specimens of 

 Cetacea exhibited, I may mention the large and beautiful 

 Orca gladiator, which forms a prominent feature in the 

 Swedish Court, five young and fcetal porpoises preserved 

 in alcohol, shown by the Gothenburg Museum, and by the 

 Norwegians ; the large Beluga in the Canadian exhibit, 

 less life-like, however, than the beautiful cast of the same 

 species shown by the National Museum of the United 

 States ; special notice ought to be taken of the rare 

 Orccella brevirostris from Singapore, in the Straits 

 Settlements exhibit. Skeletons and crania of Cetaceans 

 are more numerous, and for the high scientific value and 

 beauty of specimens exhibited Sweden has in this respect 

 by far the highest rank ; the complete skeletons of Orca 

 Eschrichtii, Hyperoodon diodon, and Mesoplodon bidens, 

 will be examined by all zoologists with pleasure and profit, 

 but of more special interest is that of Ziphius Gervaisii. 

 This form, which differs principally from Z. cavirostis in 

 the absence of the stony mesorostral bone, and in the size 

 and shape of the two teeth at the apex of the mandible, is 

 probably the female of the latter; whilst examining again 

 that most valuable specimen yesterday, I was grieved to 

 find that some unprincipled person had abstracted the 



two teeth, an act of ruthless vandalism or pseudo-scien- 

 tific kleptomania much to be deplored and condemned. 



Birds, of course, figure largely in the British and 

 foreign exhibits ; they are more or less aquatic, and may 

 or may not fish or otherwise prove injurious to piscatorial 

 interests. It is to be hoped that the public will not take 

 for granted that every bird displayed in this Exhibition is 

 the fisherman's natural enemy and therefore to be ruth- 

 lessly destroyed whenever the opportunity occurs. The 

 dipper, for example, largely repays any occasional injury 

 he may do to the fish spawn by destroying a vast number 

 of insects which habitually feed on it. 



Amongst the notable exhibits in this series in the 

 British section is a fine collection of British waterfowl 

 very nicely mounted, shown by T. E. Gunn of Norwich, 

 in which a pair of hoodies attacking a wounded widgeon 

 and a pike drawing under water a female mallard are 

 very effective. Mr. Burton's collection of New Zealand 

 waterfowl is also good ; and especially worthy of praise 

 is a set of beautiful photographs illustrating bird-life, 

 and more especially the gannets on the Bass Rock and 

 Fern Islands, exhibited by W. P. Carr of Berwick. India, 

 Australia, and the United States show a fair exhibit of 

 their waterfowl, especially Anatida;, Ardeidae, Laridas, 

 Procellaridae, and Spheniscida; ; but by far the most im- 

 portant exhibits in this class are the rare Arctic birds 

 from the Behring Sea and Alaska in the Swedish and 

 United States Courts. Ornithologists will look with un- 

 mitigated delight on the splendid specimens of Eurino- 

 rhynchus pygmants, Colymbus Adamsii, and Rhodostethia 

 Rossii in the Vega exhibit ; and on the magnificent 

 Bernicla canagica, Somateria Eis/ieri, and Somateria V- 

 nigrum, shown both in the Vega and in the National 

 Museum of Washington exhibits ; some of these species 

 are seen, I believe, for the first time in this country. A 

 large collection of water-birds of North America, some 

 three hundred species, has besides been sent over in 

 skins by the National Museum of Washington ; these, 

 however, have not been exhibited for want of space. 



Reptiles contribute a small but not uninteresting series 

 to the Fisheries Exhibition. Amongst the Chelonians 

 the most noticeable are a fine Sp/iargis coriacea shown by 

 the Australian Museum of Sydney ; a large specimen of 

 Chelonia imbricata in the Spanish exhibit from the 

 Philippines ; several large turtles, Emys and Trionyx, in the 

 Indian show, where may also be seen several large croco- 

 diles and a set of snakes, amidst which several species of 

 that most difficult but interesting group the Hydrophidae, 

 from Karachi. The United States National Museum 

 shows some fine casts of turtles, tortoises, snakes, and 

 lizards, amongst the latter a very fine one of the recently 

 described poisonous lizard of Arizona (Heloderma). 



The Amphibia are represented by a complete set of the 

 North American Urodela exhibited in the United States 

 section, while a few Anura are shown by India, and in 

 the Chilian Court may be seen a few more, amongst which 

 is the curious Calyptocephalus Gayi. 



Fish naturally contribute the larger portion of the Ver- 

 tebrata exhibited ; in the British gallery may be seen a 

 very great number of the common freshwater game and 

 food fishes exhibited principally by anglers and by angling 

 clubs, mostly mounted dry, and of little or no scientific 

 interest. A small set of freshwater and marine British 



