FIRST FLOOE. 
43 
^' Wlialebone Whales," in which a series of horny plates called 
"baleen," or more familiarly '^whalebone," grow from the 
palate in place of teeth, and serve to strain the water taken into 
the month from the small marine animals on which the whales 
subsist. A fine representative of this gronp is the very perfect 
skeleton of the Common Eorqnal or Fin- whale {Bcdsenoiotera 
musculus) near the further end of the middle of the room. It is 
sixty-eight feet long, and was captured in 1882 in the Moray 
Firth, Scotland. The flukes of the tail and dorsal fin are pre- 
served with the skeleton and suspended in their natural position, 
and the small pelvic bones and a rudimentary nodule, represent- 
ing the femur or thigh bone, the only trace of the hind leg of 
this gigantic animal, are also preserved. Beyond this skeleton is 
a skull of the Greenland Ptight- Whale (Bcdwna mysticetus), which 
yields most of the " whalebone " of commerce, and also a small 
w^ooden model of the animal, of the scale of one inch to the foot. 
FiEST Flooe. 
The upper floors of the wings of the Museum consist only 
of single galleries extending along the whole front of the 
building ; the galleries which run backwards on the ground 
floor containing only a single story. 
The Mammalian Galleey is entered from the western Gallery of 
corridor of the Central Hall. It contains the series of stuffed stuffed 
. Mammals. 
Specimens oi animals of this class, with the exception of the 
Cetacea and the Sirenia. Skeletons of the most important types 
are incorporated with this series. The collection of antlers 
of the family of Deer is ranged along the top of the cases. 
The contents of this gallery and the next are described in 
considerable detail in a special guide, and therefore a very 
short notice here will suffice. 
The series commences on the left with the most Hghly organ- 
ised forms, viz., the apes and monkeys, of which the fine series 
of Gorillas, Chimpanzees and Orang-Outangs deserves special 
attention. Among the Carnivora w^iich occupy the cases next in 
order will be noticed the series of Tigers (cases 13 and 14), includ- 
ing the small and long-haired Persian race, and the large short- 
haired form of the jungles of Bengal. Typical forms of the 
