30 
STAIRCASE AND CORRIDORS. 
Examples of " albinism " and melanism," in addition to 
those in the Central Hall, are exhibited in the adjacent bay. 
Staircase and Corridors. 
Statae of 
Darwin. 
Statue of 
Banks. 
African 
Antelopes. 
On the first landing of the great staircase, facing the centre of 
the hall, is placed the seated marble statue of Charles Darwin 
(b. 1809, d. 1882), to whose labours the study of natural history 
owes so vast an impulse. The statue was executed by Sir J. E. 
Boehm, K.A., as part of the " Darwin Memorial " raised by public 
subscription. It was unveiled and placed under the care of the 
Trustees of the Museum on the 9th of June, 1885, when an 
address was delivered on behalf of the Memorial Committee, by 
the late Professor Huxley, P.E.S., to which His Majesty the 
King (then Prince of Wales), as representing the Trustees, 
replied. 
Above the first landing the staircase divides into two flights, 
each leading to one of the corridors which flank the west and 
east sides of the hall, and by which access is gained to the 
galleries of the first floor of the building. At the southern end 
of these corridors two staircases, raised on arches spanning the 
hall, join to form a central flight leading to the second or upper- 
most floor. On the landing at the top of this flight is placed 
a marble statue by Chantrey of Sir Joseph Banks (b. 1743, 
d. 1820), who for forty-one years presided over the Eoyal 
Society, and was an active Trustee of the Museum. His 
botanical collections are preserved in the adjoining gallery, but 
his unrivalled library of works on natural history, also bequeathed 
to the Museum, remains at Bloomsbury, where the statue, 
erected by public subscription in 1826, stood, until it was 
removed to its present situation by direction of the Trustees in 
the year 1886. 
The west, south, and east corridors contain a portion of the 
collection of mounted Mammals for which there is not room in 
the gallery immediately adjoining. The specimens placed here 
are selected examples of the finest African Antelopes, animals 
remarkable for their beauty, for their former countless numbers, 
and for their threatened extermination in consequence of the 
inroads of civilized man into their domain. 
