55° 



NATURE 



\_April 14, 1 88 1 



tion of the ceiling is also botanical, but all the species 

 selected are of British plants. Underneath the staircases 

 and in the recesses a plain light colour is introduced, 

 relieved with gilding. The decorations of the saloons or 

 galleries are much simpler. The columns throughout are 

 of terra cotta, ornamented with natural history objects. 



The other parts of the building consist of series of 

 galleries running north from the front or main building, 

 but only one storey above the basement. The rooms on 

 each floor, at the end of the long front galleries and under [ 

 the two end towers, are called pavilions. The main or 

 front galleries facing Cromwell Road are lighted by 

 windows north and south. The Central Hall or Index 

 Museum, the Hallfor British Zoology, and all the other 

 galleries of one storey high running north, are lighted by 

 skylights. The Index Museum has however, in addition 

 to its roof-lights, windows in the corridors on either side. 



The distribution of the space available is as follows : — 

 The long galleries to east of the entrance on the ground- 

 floor, and all the galleries from it, running north, are devoted 

 to Geology andPalfeontology. The first floor above the Geo- 

 logical Gallery is devoted to Mineralogy, and the floor above 

 this to Botany. The whole of the galleries on the west side 

 of the building are given to Zoology. The Index Museum, 

 according to Prof. Owen, is designed to present to the 

 public, in a series of twelve recesses, typical examples of 

 all the collections — in fact, an epitome of the whole 

 animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. Prof. Owen 

 further desires to show the marvels of nature and objects 

 of special interest, as exemplifying size, &c., such as 

 whales, basking sharks, &c. These are to occupy the centre 

 of this great hall. Passing to the right from the Index 

 Museum (on the ground floor) we enter the South-East 

 Gallery of the Geological Department (233 feet in length 

 by 50 feet in width, and lighted by windows on either 

 side), at the east end of which is the Pavilion, a room 

 60 feet by 40 feet. These two galleries are entirely 

 devoted to the exhibition of the fossil Mammalia and 

 Birds, and are provided with pier-cases and table-cases. 

 The larger objects are arranged down the centre of the 

 floor. 



The cases on the left hand are nearly all occupied with 

 the remains of Proboscidea. Commencing with the 

 Deiiiofheriiiin from Epplesheim, with its tusk-like incisors 

 in the lower jaw, we pass to \.\\t Mas/odotis, in which, as a 

 rule, the tusks are developed in the upper jaw and not in 

 the lower. But to this there are exceptions ; one American 

 Mastodon having immature tusks in the lower jaw, and 

 the Mastodon ait^i^iistidens, from Sansau in France, having 

 tusks in both the upper and the lower jaw. 



Nearest the entrance door, in the centre of the gallery, 

 is placed the entire skeleton of the great American 

 mastodon from Ohio, which must have been considerably 

 larger in bulk than that of any existing elephant ; on the 

 same stand is placed the head of a young Mastodon from 

 New Jersey, and in front of it the skull and lower jaw of 

 the South American Mastodon from Chili. It is interest- 

 ing to notice that both the mastodon and elephant had 

 overspread the North and South American continents in 

 Tertiary times, and they were equally widely distributed 

 over the European and Asiatic continents ; their modern 

 representatives however are confined, the one to the 

 continent of Africa, the other to India, Ceylon, iS;c. The 



tusks of some of the old fossil elephants were of enormous 

 proportions : witness the head oi Elephas gancsa from the 

 Siwalik Hills, India, and that of the mammoth {Eh'phas 

 priiiiigcnius) from the valley of the Thames, near Ilford. 

 Large numbers of elephant remains have been dredged 

 up year by year for the past sixty years off the Dogger 

 Bank and the Norfolk coast, affording good evidence 

 that in comparatively modern times the North Sea 

 was a great valley watered by the Rhine, Moselle, &c., 

 giving pasturage to vast herds of deer, bison, oxen, and 

 elephants ; where also the rhinoceros and the hippo- 

 potamus found a pleasant home. A goodly series of the 

 remains of these animals from British and Continental 

 localities may be seen in this gallery, and also abundant 

 evidence of the old Siberian mammoth and rhinoceros, 

 both of which have been met with "in the flesh," frozen 

 solid in mud and ice. Here are also exhibited an in- 

 teresting series of the "pigmy elephant" from Malta, 

 brought home by Admiral Spratt, R. N., and Prof. Leith 

 Adams. By far the larger collection of elephant remains 

 are those from the Siwalik Hills, India, obtained by Col. 

 Sir Proby T. Cautley and described by Dr. Hugh Falconer, 

 F.R.S. The "gigantic Irish deer" {Mcgacei-os Hibernicus) 

 forms a prominent and striking object in the centre of the 

 gallery, with its branching antlers 10 feet across, a noble 

 prey for its contemporary, the "sabre-toothed tiger" 

 {Machairodus latidcns), remains of both animals having 

 been found together in Kent's Cavern, Torquay. 



Passing by the cases of carnivora, of thick-skinned 

 animals, and of ruminants, our attention is next arrested 

 by the great bandless armadillo from South America 

 {Glyp/odon). whose carapace is bigger than a hogshead, 

 and which measured nearly 12 feet from its head to the 

 tip of its armour-plated tail. 



Another of these extinct Edentates from the La Plata, 

 the Megatherium Amcricanum, stands in the centre of 

 the floor of the Pavilion. This colossal "ground-sloth " 

 measured 18 feet in length, its bones being more massive 

 than those of an elephant. It displays in every part of 

 its framework enormous strength and weight combined, 

 sufficient to break down or uproot the trees, upon the 

 leaves and succulent branches of which it fed, like its 

 pigmy modern congener Biadyptis it-idactylus, which 

 leads an arboreal existence, climbing from bough to 

 bough in the Brazilian forests. 



The extinct Marsupial fauna of the great island conti- 

 nent of Australia is here well represented by the huge 

 Diprotodon, the Notoflien'mii, and the anomalous Thyla- 

 coleo. Of the Wombat family only a small living repre- 

 sentative is known, of burrowing habits, found in Tas- 

 mania ; formerly they were abundant on the continent 

 of Australia, varying in size froin a marmot to that of a 

 tapir. The largest of these are called Phascolomys 

 magnus and P. gigas. 



The collection of remains of the great extinct wingless 

 birds of New Zealand forms a verj- interesting feature of 

 this gallery. The tallest skeleton measures 12 feet in 

 height, and the smallest not more than 3 feet. 



Madagascar had also its extinct w^ingless birds, similar 

 to those of New Zealand. Eggs of both the Dinornis 

 and the ALpyornis may here be seen, one of the latter 

 having a capacity of two gallons. 



The rarest of all avian fossils is still the Aixhceopioyx 



