32 
CENTRAL HALL. 
tlie Atlantic, and doubts as to the authenticity of some of the 
recorded occurrences make the list rather a vague and uncertain 
one. The constitution of the marine fauna in the same way is 
continually liable to undergo fluctuations. 
Slight but permanent variations from the continental type can 
be recognised in a few of our indigenous species, but the only 
vertebrated animals undoubtedly peculiar to the British Isles are 
the common Eed Grouse (Lagopus scoticus), and several species 
of fresh-water fishes, mostly belonging to the genus Salmo. 
Some of these have an extremely local distribution, being 
only found in some small groups of mountain lakes. Many 
species, or at all events, well-marked varieties of insects, and 
a few land and fresh- water molluscs, have at present been only 
found within the limits of our islands. 
The upright cases on the south side of the room, between the 
two entrances, contain the larger mammals which still inhabit 
the British Islands, except the Cetacea (Whales and Dolphins), 
which on account of their size are placed in the gallery appro- 
priated to the general collection of animals of that order (see 
p. 43). Of the Seals, but two species are really indigenous, the 
Common Seal {Phoca mtulina) and the Great Grey Seal {Hali- 
chcerus grypus) ; but other species, as the Einged and the Harp 
Seal of the Northern Seas, are exhibited in their capacity of 
occasional but rare visitors to our shores. Of the land Carnivora, 
specimens are^seen of the Wild Cat, the Fox, the Badger, Otter, 
Marten, Polecat, Weasel, and Stoat or Ermine, which only 
occasionally (as in a beautiful example shown) assumes the 
white colour in England, though this change is the rule in 
countries with severer winter climates. The Eodents are 
represented by the Common and the Variable or Mountain 
Hare, which turns white in winter in the Highlands of Scotland, 
and by the Eabbit. Of the Euminants, a specimen of the wild 
White Bull of Chillingham Park, Northumberland, stands be- 
tween the cases, and there are stuffed specimens and antlers 
(above the cases) of the Eed, Eoe, and Fallow Deer ; the latter, 
however, an introduced species, now naturalised in our parks. 
The smaller mammals are exhibited in two square cases 
standing out in the body of the room, that on the left containing 
the Eodents (Squirrel, Dormouse, Voles, Mice, and Eats), and 
