I6 ACCOUNTS, ESTIMATES, &C. OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



a Civic Gold Coin of Cologne, a very rare Double Dollar of the same city, as well as 

 rare Coins of it* early Archbishops ; by Gold Coins of Denmark, and a Testoon of the 

 Pope Leo X. 



The number of visitors to the Medal Room has been 2,316. 



Edward Hawkins. 



Departments of Natural History. 



Zoology. — Class Mammalia.— The specimens of this Class consist chiefly of dried and 

 stuffed, or unstuffed skins; a few small examples are preserved in spirits. To this Class also 

 belongs an extensive collection of Horns, Antlers, and Osteological specimens. All these 

 specimens are in a good state of preservation, or in a condition, so far as their scientific 

 utility is concerned, not inferior to that in which they were originally received at the 

 Museum. 



The stuffed specimens, the Horns and Antlers, and a select few of the Osteological 

 specimens, are displayed in such a state of systematic arrangement as the present space 

 will permit. The unstuffed skins and the main bulk of the Osteology aie accessible only 

 to special visitors and students, being preserved in the basement rooms allotted to them. 



In the exliibited series, the Order Quadrumana (Apes, Monkeys, Lemurs), is well 

 illustrated, with the exception of the aberrant family including the slow Lemurs of 

 Africa and Madagascar and the Aye-Aye (Cheiromys) of the latter place. The highest 

 family of the Order is richly exemplified. The small species of Orang-utan (Pithecus 

 Morio), fiom Borneo, may now be compared by means of stuffed skins of the adult Male 

 and Female with the previously known larger species (Pit/tecus Wnrmbii), distinguished 

 among other characters by its cheek-callosities. The parallel genus of African Anthropoid 

 Apes is not yet exemplified by skins of both the large and small species ; but of the 

 former, called by the natives of Gaboon "W egeena" (Troglodijtes Gorilla), tlie Museum 

 has obtained by purchase during the past year the Skeleton of an Adult Male, and the 

 Skull of an Adult Female, showing the sexual distinction in the teeth : both are fiora the 

 Gaboon district of the West Coast of Tropical Africa. 



In these important acquisitions the anatomist may remark the modifications of the skeleton, 

 indicative of a power of progression in the semi-erect position, and certain resemblances 

 to peculiarities in the human skeleton which have not bten observed in any other ape than 

 the Gorilla. Skins of the adult and young of the smaller species of Chimpanzee {Troglodytes 

 niger) complete the instructive series of those Quadrumana, which make the nearest approach 

 to mankind in physical structure. 



The number of stuffed skins of the Order Carnivora now displayed, affords the naturalist 

 means of studying the entire range of external modifications in that order. In some 

 instances specimens of the young and adidt of the same species illustrate the varieties of 

 marking dependent upon age. The necessities of space involve a too great crowding of the 

 specimens, and restrict the power of showing some species of the larger Carnivora, e.g., the 

 Grisly and some other kinds of Bear. The Seals, also, are necessarily dispersed, and some 

 aie fixed above the reach of examination and comparison, wherever wall-space can bo had 

 for them in the Mammalian Saloons. The true Ounce {Felis Uncia) of Buffon, and the 

 recently acquired specimen of the Paniher of the Ancients, deserve notice in this Order. 



In reference to the condition of the Mammalian Series for instruction, the specimens of 

 the Order Marsupialia deserve mention, for the completeness with which they illustrate 

 that Order. Species of the rarest genera, e. g. Tarsipes, Myrniecohiw, and Choeropus, are 

 here exhibited. The small size of the majority of the species, and the colonial lelations of 

 England with the Australian continent, to which most of the Marsupial genera are jjcculiar, 

 are the circumstances which have influenced the perfection of this part of the exhibited 

 Mammalian Collection. The diminutive size of most of the 7?«efdrora and Rodentia has, 

 in like manner, permitted the display of almost a complete series of the genera of both 

 orders in the cabinets allotted to them. The same remark applies to the Cheiroptera, or 

 Bat Order, almost all the generic modifications of which may now be studied in the cases 

 at the entry of the Mammahan Saloon. 



Althou<:h the series of the Ruminaiitia is extensive, and has been enriched with some rare 

 species, the possessions of the Museum in this Order cannot be taken advantage of for 

 instruction by systematic arrangement; and the few stuffed specimens of the larger species 

 of these and other hoofed animals are still regulated in their position by the exigencies 

 of space. 



For the same reason the exhibited specimens of the Order Brula {Edentata, Cuvier) 

 continue to be associated with those of different Orders of Ungulata, in the wall-cabinets of 

 the Southern Zoological Gallery. 



The Order Cetacea, being that which needs most place for its display, can be but scantily 

 exemplified in the present Zoological Galleries. The specimens, wherever disposed, both 

 skins and skeletons, are in a good state of preservation. 



Class Aves. — The Class of Birds is represented by Stuffed Specimens, Preserved Skins, 

 ■ S!<eletons, Skulls, Eggs, and Nests. 



The Stuffed Specimens, a few of the Skeletons, and of the Eggs and the Nests, are 

 displayed in the Zoological Galleries, but the latter, at present, apart from the Birds 



themselves. 



