64 
GUIDE TO THE 
room of a vessel carrying frozen meat to London, and 
thus it reached England safely and has now been 
mounted by Mr. Gerrard. Longer specimens of an 
allied species have been taken, but none in a condition 
good enough to mount. In the same case is an 
example of the British species Banks’ Oar-Fish 
{Regalecus banksi), caught on the British coast. 
Next we see a magnificent Sea-Lion, Otaria ursina, 
the cast of the fossil Glyptodon from Argentina, and 
above it a large Walrus. On the other side are 
rare Seals — the Grey Seal, Halichoerus grypus, 
caught on the English coast, and the Monk-Seal, 
Monachus albiventer, from the Mediterranean. Then 
passing a Giraffe, we come to a collection of 
Giant Laud Tortoises. 
Mr. Eothschild has for some time paid special atten- 
tion to this group of animals, and his collection is 
unique. The largest specimen here exhibited for the 
present is one brought from the Galapagos by the 
late Dr. Baur ; but much larger ones, from Aldabra 
and other islands, are kept alive in the Zoological 
Gardens at London. The interest in these gigantic 
Tortoises is somewhat melancholy, as their days, 
at least in a wild state, seem to be numbered. 
Their distribution at the present day is a problem 
that has not its equal, for they are now only living on 
the Galapagos group, west of Peru, and on the little 
