FLOOR.] 
MAMMALIA SALOON. 
149 
approaches annually the West Coast of Ireland, rarely straying to the 
coasts of England and Scotland, [t is of a harmless disposition, its 
food consisting of small fishes and other marine animals swimming in 
shoals. On the West Coast of Ireland it is chased for the sake of 
the oil which is extracted from the liver, one fish yielding from a ton 
to a ton and a half. However, its capture is attended with great 
danger, as one blow from its enormously strong tail is sufficient to 
stave in the sides of a large boat. 
Cases 1 and 2, 31 and 32. The Llamas, used as beasts of burden in 
the Andes of South America, one species furnishing an excellent wool. 
The wild species are brown, while thedomesticated kinds are black, white, 
or brown, and often variegated. The Camel and Dromedary, organized 
for traversing the sandy deserts and arid steppes of Africa and Asia. 
Their power of endurance during long journeys is due chiefly to the 
complicated structure of their capacious stomach, in which the water 
can be retained, as in a reservoir, for more than a week. Their 
hump, which normally consists of a firm and solid mass of fat, like- 
wise serves as a store of nutriment which, during the periods of 
scarcity of food, is gradually absorbed, and replenished when the 
animals return to their pasturage. 
Cases 3 to 16. Oxen. Among them may be specified the Lithua- 
nian Bison, or Aurochs, which in ancient times inhabited the Euro- 
pean forests, but is now nearly extinct, a few only having been pre- 
served by the care of the Kussian Emperors ; the American Bison, 
or " Buffalo," which still wanders in gradually diminishing herds 
over the prairies of North America ; the Yak of Central Asia, which 
has been domesticated and is used as a beast of burden ; and the 
curious Nepalese Budorcas. 
Of the Musk Ox (Ovibos moschatus) or rather Musk Sheep, several 
specimens obtained during the Arctic Expeditions are exhibited. One 
of them, a bull about four years old, was killed during the last Arctic 
Expedition on the shores of Grinnell Land, in lat. 82° 27', within a 
mile of the winter quarters of H.M.S. Alert (6th of July, 1876). 
This animal inhabits the polar regions of the Western Hemisphere, 
between the 60th and 83rd parallels of latitude, and is found in herds 
of from ten to thirty. It is surprising that so large an animal should be 
able to subsist during the long Arctic winter on the scanty vegetation 
of those regions. When fat, his flesh is well flavoured, but lean 
animals smell strongly of musk. Notwithstanding the shortness of 
its legs, the Musk Ox runs fast and climbs rocks and precipices with 
as great ease as a Wild Sheep, to which it is more nearly allied than to 
the Ox Tribe. 
The continuation of the series of Antelopes, such as the Bontebok ; 
the fine striped Strepsiceros, with spiral horns ; the Nylghau, often 
called the Horned Horse of India ; and the Anoa of Celebes. 
In these Cases are also contained some others of the Thick-skinned 
Beasts, as Baird's Tapir of Central America ; the African Swine, with 
warts on the head, and formidable tusks; the Babyrussa, with 
recurved horn-like tusks ; the South American Peccaries, with a 
