1 *7 
Beginning at the middle of the east end of the court there is 
first to be observed, suspended by chains from the roof of the 
building, the skeleton of a North Atlantic right whale {Balaam 
biscayensis ). This skeleton has a length of forty-four and one-half 
feet, while the head has a length of twelve and one-half feet. 
Immediately below the skeleton is a large case containing a 
group of proboscis monkeys, seven in number, of different ages 
and both sexes, and displaying the attitudes and habits of life. 
This case and its contents are the gift of Mr. Martin A. Ryerson, 
and the mounting was done by Mr. C. E. Akeley, the taxidermist 
of the Museum. 
Beyond this, running down the middle of the court, is a row 
of large cases whose contents are as follows: 
Case 2.— Group of pumas. 
Case 3. — Pacific walrus. 
Case 4.— Northern fur seal, male, female and young, and a 
Steller’s sea lion from the Pacific coast. 
Case 5.— Five seals, among them the sea elephant from the 
Kerguelen Islands. 
Case 6.— Group of llamas, alpaca and vicugna. 
Case 7. — Group of orang-utans. This case, like the first 
in this row, was presented by Mr. Martin A. Ryerson, and the 
taxidermy was done by Mr. Akeley. The group consists of an 
old male, a young male, two females and two young. This fam- 
ily is represented as being in the top of a durio bread-fruit tree, 
where they are engaged in securing the fruit and disporting 
themselves. 
COLLECTION OF MOLLUSKS. 
The remaining cases in this court are flat cases on tables and 
are devoted to exhibiting the collection of brachiopod and mol- 
luscan shells. The visitor is supposed to begin with Case No. 8, 
at the west end of the row on the north side of the court. Only 
the principal families in each case will be referred to here. 
The collection of Mollusca contains some 4,000 or more 
species. It is believed to represent fairly well the subject of con- 
chology, since a large proportion of the genera and important sub- 
genera are present. 
