4 
ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS. 
[upper 
in length, and 13 feet in its greatest circumference. This Shark is 
an inhabitant of the Northern parts of the Atlantic Ocean, and 
approaches annually the West Coast of Ireland, rarely straying to the 
coasts of England and Scotland. It 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 ^vhich 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 the domesticated kinds are black, 
white, or brown, and often variegated. The Camels, remarkable for 
their stomachs complicated with cells for holding water, and for theii- 
humps, which are stores of nutriment, whereby they are fitted for 
long journeys across the desert. 
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 Thibet, the tail of 
which is used as a fly-flap by the Asiatics, and the curious Nepalese 
Budorcas. 
Of the Musk Ox (Ovihos moschatiis) 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^ v^ithin 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 shortress 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, 
with its inscribed sides ; 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 social South American 
Peccaries, with a gland on their back, emitting a foetid odour. All 
these animals have muscular and callous noses, which fit them well 
for grubbing in the ground. The curious Hyrax, one of the species 
