THE ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS. 
87 
large case containing an exhibit of Indian rays which pro¬ 
perly belongs to the adjoining Fish Gallery. 
In present conditions the cold-blooded vertebrates can 
be exhibited in a very much more satisfactory way than the 
birds and mammals : it is only natural that the scientific 
staff, fully conscious of this, have felt a far greater interest 
in arranging those exhibits in the completion of which they 
could feel some satisfaction. 
The reptiles occupy the greater part of the side-cases 
on the right-hand side of the door of the gallery. In these 
cases tortoises and turtles, lizards, chameleons, snakes, 
crocodiles and the almost extinct group Rhynchocephalia, 
now represented only in New Zealand by a single living 
species, are illustrated by specimens in spirit, skeletons, 
casts and clay models. Each family is provided with a des¬ 
criptive label and in most cases with a map showing its 
distribution. The clay models are the work of Babu P. C. 
Chatter] ee and were executed with the most detailed accu¬ 
racy. Most of the snakes described in Mr. Boulenger’s 
volume in the ‘‘ Fauna of British India” are represented 
in this way, as well as a large proportion of the lizards. 
In the centre of the room are large stands supporting 
stuffed specimens of the two Indian crocodiles and the 
Gharial and a cast of a large Leathery Turtle from Travan- 
core. Here also are cases containing dissections, diagrams 
and models that demonstrate the anatomy and life-histories 
of the reptiles and batrachians. 
The latter group is exhibited from a systematic point of 
view in one of the wall-cases, by specimens hardened in 
formalin and then preserved in alcohol, by clay models 
and by photographs of living frogs. 
The end of the gallery furthest from the door on the 
right-hand side contains a large case designed for the exhi¬ 
bition of the Indian rays. These fishes, some of which reach 
a great size, are represented by stuffed specimens, casts and 
specimens in spirit. The two former have been painted 
from the fresh fish and a particularly interesting feature of 
the exhibit as a whole lies in the fact that several of the 
common sting-rays are thus shown both in a young and in an 
