THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



473 



may find them acceptable. I shall take the several objects as they are 

 arranged in the Synopsis, and intersperse the descriptions with such 

 original observations or gleanings from various sources as may serve to 

 elucidate the subject, and comply with some, at least, of the requisi- 

 tions on the cover of the early numbers of the Magazine. 



THE MUSK OX. 



This animal has many striking peculiarities which appear to give it 

 an alliance with the goat rather than the ox. The singular secretion 

 of musk, which so strongly pervades and taints its flesh, particularly 

 the heart and kidneys, not only indicates a similarity in secretory 

 organs with the species of deer which yields that drug, but may, from 

 these circumstances, lead to a reasonable inferential conjecture that the 

 concrete substances both of musk and civet, and, perhaps, ambergris, 

 may owe their origin to the action of some secretory ducts connected 

 with the heart and kidneys of the animals which produce them. The 

 silky texture of its hair again nearly resembles that of the Cashmere 

 goat ; while its habitat on the tops of mountains, its facility in running, 

 and its dexterity in climbing rocks, are all indicative rather of the goat 

 than the ox : the identity, however, of general figure and size will 

 warrant the naturalist in placing it in the bovine tribe. 



arborescent fern (Alsophila Buenoniaria, Wallich). 

 This, which stands on the staircase, between the musk ox and polar 

 bear, is one of the most curious and interesting specimens in the Mu- 

 seum. We, who in this country are accustomed to see the fern only as 

 a small ramose herb, springing on our heaths and commons in the early 

 months of the year, like the tufted varieties of the acanthus, and gra- 

 dually expanding its leaves till, in the autumn, it covers the ground 

 with its luxuriance, and affords shelter to the hare and partridge, can 

 have no conception of a tropical species, which, like the present speci- 

 men, rises on a trunk forty-five feet in height, rivalling the most lofty 

 palm, and bearing on its summit a frond as clearly defined as the most 

 minute species of this singular genus. On examining this curious spe- 

 cimen, I observed it possessed several very remarkable peculiarities. 

 It has been cut into two parts for the convenience of placing it. That 

 on the right hand is the lower part of the trunk ; the other is the 

 upper portion 5 and above is placed the frond. The whole appears a 

 botanical phenomenon. It seems that the first leaves (if they may be 

 so called) are of the nature of scales, proceeding from the cortex, or 

 outer bark, as there is no vestige of liber or inner bark. These leaves 



