How to See the British Museum in Four Visits | Page 6

Having examined these inferior
mammalia, the visitor will pass in direct order of succession to the
cases in which
THE MARSUPIAL ANIMALS
are deposited. These fill nine wall-cases, and they should be carefully
examined, as exhibiting a peculiar economy of animal life. The
marsupial animals are placed by some zoologists in the lowest class of
mammalia. They include carnivorous, herbivorous, and insectivorous
families, and their head-quarters appear to be Australia. In the first two
cases (44, 45) which the visitor will examine, are the varieties of
Australian phalangers; and here also are the New Holland bears, the
Australian wombat, the flying squirrel of Norfolk Island, the flying
phalangers; and in the right corner of the case are grouped those
notable animals to which public curiosity has of late years been so
keenly directed--the kangaroos. In the next five cases (46-51) the
visitor will find more varieties of these strange, awkward-looking
creatures. Here amid the kangaroos of Australia are the long-nosed,
rock, and jerboa kangaroos, the New Guinea tree-kangaroo, and below,
the Australian koala. The two next cases (52, 53) contain the varieties
of Australian opossums, and below are the opossums of America.
These close the attractions of the wall-cases, and the visitor should now
glance round the saloon at the specimens of the varieties of
THE SEAL TRIBE,
which are arranged along the tops of the wall-cases. These include the
leonine seal of the Southern Ocean, the Cape porpoise and dolphin, and
the long-beaked dolphin of the Ganges. Having noticed these
specimens, the visitor should proceed to examine the extensive
collection of
CORALS,

which are arranged upon the central tables of the saloon. To explain the
presence of coral in the midst of a zoological collection it is necessary
to remind the visitor that this beautiful substance, which is chiefly a
deposit of carbonate of lime, is also the fossil remains of that animal
known to zoologists as the polypus. These polypi put forth buds, which
remain attached to the parental polypus, and generate other buds; and in
this way countless polypi, linked together, yet maintaining a separate
and distinct existence, spread themselves over miles and miles of
submarine rocks, in endless varieties of shape, and leave their remains
to be dredged by the hardy fisherman, for the adornment of beauty.
These beautiful polypi skeletons cluster in curious formations, as the
visitor will perceive on examining the fine collection of corals before
him.[1] Among the remarkable coral formations to which the general
visitor's attention may be directed, are the sea-mushroom, the remains
of a single polypus of great size; the brainstone, which presents a
circular mass of long winding cells, and altogether has the appearance
of the masses and veins of the brain; the sea-pen, and the sea-fan. In the
cases, ranged together in the saloon, the visitor who feels interested in
the infinite varieties of coral formation, will find specimens that-will
give him a full idea of the architectural abilities of the active zoophytes
that carry on their operations upon the rocks that lie not far below the
surface of the ocean. From the coral tables, the visitor's way lies out of
the Mammalia Saloon to the north, into a gallery of which all
Englishmen who understand the value of a perfect museum, are justly
proud.
THE EASTERN ZOOLOGICAL GALLERY
of the British Museum runs the entire length of the building. It is
divided into five compartments, and its space is devoted to the display
of Birds, Shells, and a few Paintings. The birds exhibited in this gallery
fill no less than one hundred and sixty-six wall-cases; and the shells
which are distributed throughout the central space occupy fifty large
tables: the lesser tables which are placed here and there near the birds,
being devoted to the display of birds' eggs. The pictures are hung above
the wall-cases. This general glance at the arrangement of the gallery,
will prevent the visitor from falling into the error of distracting his
attention from one order of zoological development to another at
frequent intervals. Already he has examined the various species of

animal life which rank in the highest class--the mammalia. Before him
now, are ranged vast numbers of the second class of animal life; and he
will do well to pay these some attention, and to get definite impressions
regarding them, before he turns to the other attractions which the
museum offers. Before proceeding to examine the first order of birds
which are in the first eastern room, the visitor should glance at the
historical portraits suspended above the cases. Among them he will
find a Mary Queen of Scots, by Cornelius Jansen; a Cromwell,
presented by the Protector to Colonel Rich of the parliamentary forces,
by whose great-grandson it was bequeathed to the trustees of the
museum; William Duke of Cumberland by