48 
INSECT GALLERY. 
The largest specimen; of the class, placed near the centre 
^ of the room, suspended from the roof, is a full-grown 
example of the Great Basking Shark {Selache [or Cetorhinus] 
maxima) (fig. 2-3), captured on the 2nd of March, 1875, 
near Shanklin, in the Isle of Wight. Its length is twenty-eight 
feet, but, as the minute size of the teeth indicate, it is a com- 
paratively harmless animal. Below the stuffed specimen is 
placed a model of the skeleton of the same species. Near by 
is a young specimen of a shark (Rhinodon typicus) which when 
adult is said to attain a still larger size. It inhabits the Indian 
and Pacific Oceans. 
Models of some of the more remarkable types of Extinct 
Fishes are exhibited in one of the cases on the same side of the 
gallery. 
Insect Gallery. II. A small gallery is devoted to the group of Articulata 
. or Invertebrated animals with jointed limbs, as Insects, Spiders, 
Myriopods, and Crustacea. In the wall-cases are many curious 
examples of nests, and of specimens illustrating the ravages of 
destructive insects, and also some of their economic products. 
Special attention may be directed to the exhibits of the nests 
of the various kinds of Bees and Wasps, which occupy both 
sides of the north end of this gallery, where the nests of Tree- 
Ants are also displayed. Next the door on the east side are 
the nests of White Ants, or Termites; while on the opposite 
side are the . cocoons of the sociable larvse of various Moths. 
The distribution of certain kinds of Beetles is illustrated by | 
the placing of actual specimens on maps. ' 
Selected examples of the different groups of insects are ex- 
hibited in systematic order in the table-cases, so as to give the 
visitor who studies them a general idea of the more interesting , 
forms and of their classification. The cases are fitted with j 
movable covers to protect the specimens from light, but even 
under these conditions it is impossible to exhibit many of the ; 
most beautiful and rare species, owing to the deteriorating j 
effects of light upon their colours. The main collection of 
insects is, on this account, and because of the immense space 
it would otherwise occupy, kept in cabinets in the "insect- 
room" on the basement floor, to which students have access 
under the regulations mentioned at the end of this guide. 
