30 
CENTEAL HALL. 
aid of the explanatory labels, the essential characters and the 
principal modifications of all these parts, can easily be followed 
out by any one wishing to become acquainted with them. 
Contents of Bays IV. and V. completing the west side of the hall, will, 
Bays^^ in a similar manner, show the most important points in the 
completed. structure of reptiles and fishes. In the latter has already been 
placed a very fine skeleton of the Great Blue Shark {Garcharodon 
Tondeletii) from ]^ew Zealand, with the names of all the parts 
affixed to them. 
Of the bays on the east side of the hall, N'o. VI. is' for the 
illustrations of the articulated classes, Crustacea, Arachnida, 
Myriopoda and Insecta, as well as of the Annulosa and Vermes. 
ISTo. VII. for the MoUusca, Echinodermata, Ccelenterata, Porifera 
and Protozoa ; and the remaining three, VIII., IX., and X., for 
the morphology of the vegetable kingdom: the first containing the 
Cryptogams, the next the Gymnosperms and the Monocotyledons, 
and the last the Dicotyledons. By this arrangement the lowest 
or simplest forms of animal or plant life, those on the border 
land, as it were, of the two kingdoms, will be brought into 
contact, and at the two ends of the series, in Bays I. and X., 
will be found the groups which show in the highest degree 
the special attributes of the division to which they belong. 
In Bay IX. (the second from the entrance door), is a fine 
section (about eight feet in diameter), of the trunk of a Douglas 
Pine from British Columbia, which was cut down in 1885. The 
annual rings of wood, which are very well marked, show that the 
tree was then 533 years old. The progress of the tree's growth 
has been indicated by the inscription upon its surface of various 
historical events which have occurred during its lifetime. 
In Bay X., devoted to the Dicotyledons, is a polished section 
of the Karri Tree {Eucalyptus diver sicolor), of Australia, which 
grows to a height of 400 feet, and was about 200 years old when 
cut down. Both of these trees were perfectly sound, but the 
sections have unfortunately cracked in drying. 
The Introductory Collection of Minerals will be found in the 
gallery devoted to that department of the collection (see p. 51). 
