i66 
EXTINCT MONSTERS, 
the skeletons, besides obtaining specimens of all the reptiles which 
inhabited that region. They were compelled to see and think for 
themselves, while comparing and discriminating the different 
recent and fossil bones, and reasoning on the laws of comparative 
osteology, till at length they were fully prepared to appreciate the 
lessons which they were taught by the works of Cuvier.” 
In 1840 Captain Cautley presented his vast collection, the 
result of ten years’ unremitting labour and great personal outlay, 
to the British Museum, the Geological Society having declined to 
accept it, as it was beyond their means of accommodation. Its 
extent and value may be estimated from the fact that it filled 214 
large chests, the average weight of each of which amounted to 
4 cwt, and that the charges on its transmission to England alone, 
which were defrayed by the Government of India, amounted to 
^602. Dr. Falconer’s selected collection was divided between 
the India House and the British Museum; the greater part was 
presented to the former, but a large number of unique or choice 
specimens, required to fill up blanks, were presented to the latter. 
The greater part of the specimens in the British Museum were still 
unarranged and embedded in their matrix. In 1844 a memorial 
was presented to the Court of Directors of the Honourable East 
India Company, pointing out the desirability of having the 
specimens in the national collection prepared, arranged, and 
displayed, and also of publishing an illustrated work, which 
would convey to men of science in both hemispheres a knowledge 
of the contents of the Sivalik Hills, and suggesting Dr. Falconer 
as the person most fitted to superintend the work. The Govern- 
ment of the time, under Sir Robert Peel, made a grant of ;£’iooo 
to enable the collection to be exhibited in the British Museum, 
and Dr. Falconer was entrusted with the work. Besides this, a 
large illustrated work, entitled Fauna Antiqua Sina/ensis, was 
begun, but owing to the demands upon Dr. Falconer’s time, and 
his subsequent death, this work was not completed, although nine 
out of the twelve parts originally contemplated were finished. 
