GROUND FLOOR. 
41 
in Essex. Then follow skeletons of the great extinct Irish Deer 
{Megaceros giganteus), 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 (Bhytina 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 representatives, the 
Manatee and Dugong (see Osteological Gallery, West Wing, 
Second Moor, p. 39), belong to the order Sirenia, aquatic mammals 
of fish-like form, presenting considerable external resemblance 
to Cetacca (the Whales and Dolphins), although differing from 
them in many essential points of structure and habit. 
The wall-cases on the south side (right on entering) con- Possil remains 
tain remains of Man found under such circumstances as may ^^n. 
justify the appellation of " fossil," in caves or pleistocene de- 
posits, associated with the bones of animals either completely 
or locally extinct. Then follow in systematic order the bones 
and teeth of the other Primates, the Carnivora, Ungulata and 
Sirenia. 
The greater part of the north side of the gallery is devoted to the 
exliibition of a magnificent collection of the remains of Probos- 
cidea (Dinotheria, Mastodons and elephants), including the fine 
series from the sub-Himalayan Mountains collected by Cautley 
and Falconer. 
In the pavilion, or expanded portion of the end of the gallery, 
are skeletons and bones of the animals of the order Edentata, 
mostly from South America, including some fine specimens of 
the great Ground Sloths, the largest of which is the Megatherium, 
and the Glyptodon, a huge extinct Armadillo, enclosed in a 
solid barrel-like bony case. As these animals far surpassed in 
size their diminutive existing representatives, so the gigantic 
Australian Marsupials of the corresponding period (pleistocene, 
or latest tertiary), the Diprotodon and Nototherium, remains 
of which will be found in this room, greatly exceeded any of the 
species now existing on that continent. On the other hand, all 
