GEOUXD FLOOR. 
43 
Some of these belong to species still existing upon the earth, 
but the great majority are extinct. They are arranged mainly 
upon zoological principles, that is, the forms which are supposed 
to have natural affinities are placed together, but witliin some of 
the great divisions thus mapped out, especially of the Inverte- 
brata and plants, it has been found convenient to adopt a 
stratigraphical or even geographical grouping, the fossils of 
different geological formations being kept apart, and those of 
the British Isles separated from those of foreign localities. 
As this portion of the Museum is fully described in the 
Illustrated Guide* it will only be necessary to give a brief 
account of it here. 
The large front gallery first entered from the hall is entirely Remains of 
devoted to the remains of Mammalia. Alon^ the centre are ^^^^^^ ^ 
1 -1 • T • r. Mammals, 
placed a number of large and striking objects, oi too great a size 
to be contained in the wall-cases. The first is a nearly complete 
skeleton of the American Mastodon, an animal closely allied to 
the elephant, from which it is chiefly distinguished by the 
characters of its molar teeth. Beyond this is the skull of an 
Elephant {Mephas ganesa), remarkable for the immense length 
of its tusks, from the Siwalik Hills of India, and another of the 
Mammoth [Eleplias primigenius) with huge curved tusks, in a 
perfect state of preservation, found in the brick earth at Ilford 
in Essex. Then follow skeletons of the great extinct Irish Deer 
(3fegaceros gigantetos), male and female, the former distinguished 
by its magnificent palmated antlers, resembling those of a 
fallow deer on a large scale. 
Beyond these is a skeleton of a very rare and remarkable 
animal, the Northern Manatee or Sea Cow {Elujtina gigas), the 
last known resort of which was Behring's Island in the ISTorth 
Pacific, where it was completely exterminated towards the close 
of the last century. In the same case is .placed the skeleton of 
a smaller allied form, the Halitherium, from the Miocene of 
South Germany. These, with their existing rej^reseiitatives, the 
Manatee and Dugong (see Osteological Gallery, West Wing, 
Second Floor, p. 42), belong to the order Sirenia, aquatic mammals 
of fish-like form, presenting considerable external resemblance 
* 'Guide t<) tlic Exhibition Galleries of the Department of Geology and 
Palfeontology.' Price fourpence. 
