Ichthyosauri occupying the Wall Cases 1-5. In Wall Cases 6 and 7 is continued the suite of Mammalian remains belonging to the order Ruminantia; Case 6 contains the Cervine remains, and Case 7 thè Bovine, the heads and antlers being placed on the top of the Cases.

In a series of small Table Cases beneath the windows are placed various remains of Reptiles, Birds, and Marsupial Mammalia. In Table Case 6 is a selected series of Mammalian remains, and other Vertebrata, from the Red Crag of Suffolk. A series of Fossil Sponges from the Chalk, Green-sand, Oolitic, Devonian, and Silurian formations is displayed in the window recesses of this room.

The gigantic bird, in a case between the windows, forms part of the collection of extinct New Zealand birds arranged in Wall Case 11 of Room III.

ROOM V.

Here the Wall Cases are occupied by Mammalian remains.

In Case VI. are placed the Fossil Carnivora (the Cave-Lion, Hyæna, Wolf, &c.). In Cases I. and II. are arranged (1) the remains of the Cave- Bear and other Ursida; (2) the Cetaceans, Ziphius, Zeuglodon, &c.; (3) a large series of Hippopotami, remains of which are uncommon in England; the specimens in the Wall Case are chiefly from fresh-water formations in Italy, France and India. The existing Hippopotamus is restricted to the Continent of Africa.

Cases III. to V. contain various other Pachyderms from England, France, Germany, Italy, and India. Remains of several species of Rhinoceros from each of these countries are exhibited, together with the Horse, Hippotherium, Tapir. Palæotherium, Anoplotherium, Pig, &c. In Table Case No. 13 are arranged remains of several small Mammalia, including the Monkey, Bat, Beaver, &c.

In the centre of this Room are skeletons of the male and female gigantic Irish Deer (Cervus megaceros), a series of antlers of whice is placed on the Wall Cases, where are also exhibited a collection of skulls of Ruminants from India.

In the Table Cases of the rooms Nos. V. and VI. are arranged the Fossil species of the Invertebrate classes (animals without back-bone), called Mollusca, Articulata, and Radiata.

The

CORALS (Zoophyta). In Table Cases 16 and 17, Room V., are exhibited a series of Tertiary and Cretaceous Corals, Oolitic corals, polished sections of "Madrepores," from the Devonshire marble; and Silurian Corals from Dudley, Gotland, and North America. series is continued in Cases in the window recess, including fine examples of the "Chain-coral" brought home by the Arctic expedition under Captain Kellett.

A portion of Case 15 is occupied with the POLYZOA, horny corallines, most of which are found in the sea, encrusting shells and stones; and which are now considered to be more nearly related to certain low forms of MOLLUSCA (the Tunicata) than to the ZOOPHYTA.

The remainder of the Case is occupied with NUMMULITES (Foraminifera); numerous examples are exhibited of these small chambered

shells, which resemble Nautili and Ammonites in form, but are constructed by creatures of a more simple organization. The larger sorts are most abundant in the Older Tertiary rocks ("Nummulitic limestone") of Europe, Africa, and India,—such as that of which the Great Pyramid is built.

Two instructive series of enlarged models of these, for the most part, microscopic forms, are placed in this case: one series by M. D'Orbigny, the other by Drs. Reuss and Fritsch.

STONE LILIES (Crinoidea). In Cases 18 and 19, Room V., and the adjoining Window-recess Case, is a series of these once abundant forms of stalked Star-fishes, now so exceedingly rare in a living state. They are represented by forms from the Silurian, Carboniferous, Liassic, Oolitic, and Cretaceous formations. The most noteworthy are the Crotalocrinus rugosus, from Dudley; the group of heads of Pentacrinus briareus, from Charmouth, Dorset; the series of Lily Encrinites (Apiocrinus Parkinsoni), from Bradford; and of Marsupites Milleri, from Kent and Sussex.

In the Window Case, between Table Cases 16 and 17, is arranged a series of Fossil Star-fishes from the Silurian, Oolitic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary rocks.

SEA-URCHINS (Echinida). Case 22, Room VI. These are arranged in four principal groups. 1. Those from the Tertiary strata, of which the most remarkable are the large Clypeasters from Malta. 2. The Chalk Echinida, amongst which are the Helmet-urchins (Ananchytes), popularly known as "fairy-loaves;" the Heart-urchins (Spatangida), called "fairy-hearts;" and numerous species of Cidaris, provincially termed 'shepherd's crowns;" some of the specimens have spines still attached to the shell. 3. The Jurassic or Oolitic Echinida, and the Sea-urchins from the Trias and older rocks, which include many singular forms of the spines or locomotive organs.

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WORMS (Annelida). One half of Case 14, Room V., is occupied with examples of the tubes, or shells, of fossil Annelids (Serpulæ). One species, known as the Vermicularia Bognoriensis, makes an almost regularly convoluted tube, like a snail-shell; a mass composed of these tubes is placed in this Case.

FOSSIL INSECTS (Articulata). The other half of Table Case No. 14, Room V., contains the Insect remains, consisting of the wing-covers (elytra) of beetles from the Oolitic strata of Purbeck and Stonesfield, and Dragon-flies (some in their larval state), from Solenhofen and Eningen. There is a wing of a large flying insect, resembling the living Corydalis of the United States, in a nodule of clay-ironstone from Coalbrook Dale. Insect remains in amber from Stettin, on the Baltic, are also here displayed.

Fossil insects may be seen in some of the specimens of amber in the Table Case No. 60, Room I.

CRUSTACEA, CRABS AND LOBSTERS. Cases 7 and 9, Room VI., contain the exhibited portion of this class. The first half of Case 9 contains the Cirripedia, represented at the present day by the Ship Barnacle and the Acorn-shell. The second, contains the Bivalved

Crustacea, Phyllopods and Ostracods; and a portion of the Trilobites; the remaining portion being in Table Case 7. In the adjoining Window-recess Case is exhibited a series of Crustaceans belonging to the Eurypterida and Limulidæ, or King-Crabs. The gigantic Euryp terida are extinct, but the King-Crab is found living at the present day. Fine examples of Limulus, from Solenhofen, and of Slimonia, from Lanarkshire, are placed on Case 9.

Case 7 contains the Trilobita, the Isopoda, and the Decapoda (Crabs and Lobsters). Of the Trilobites, by far the greater part are from the Wenlock Shale and Limestone of Worcestershire and Staffordshire, and the Silurian rocks of Bohemia. The "Dudley Locusts" (Calymene Blumenbachii) and the great "Barr Trilobite" (Illanus Barriensis) are among the earliest fossils known to science. Fossil Lobsters are found to extend from the Coal Measures to the present day; whilst true Crabs first appear in the Upper Oolite. Specimens from the Lias of Lyme, the Oolite of Solenhofen, and the London Clay of Sheppey, are most deserving of attention.

The FOSSIL SHELLS (Mollusca) are divided into four groups 1. Lamp-shells (Brachiopoda). 2. Ordinary Bivalves (Conchifera). 3. Spiral Univalves (Gasteropoda). 4. Chambered Univalves (Cephalopoda).

LAMP-SHELLS (Brachiopoda). Cases 2 and 3, Room VI. Those from the Tertiary strata belong to existing genera, and some to existing species; but others, like the great Terebratula of the Suffolk crag, are unknown in a recent state. The Chalk species are no longer living, and belong chiefly to the genera Terebratula, Thecidium, Rhynchonella, and Terebratella, of which all, excepting the last, appear to be verging towards extinction, or are scantily represented by existing species.

The FOSSIL BIVALVES (Conchifera), and SPIRAL UNIVALVES (Gasteropoda), have been arranged in parallel groups, according to their geological age.

TERTIARY FOSSIL SHELLS. (Room VI.)

1. NEWER PLIOCENE. The Shells of this Geological period are displayed in the Table Cases numbered 11 and 12, and in part of Case 13.

2. OLDER PLIOCENE. In Table Case 10, will be found Shells of the " Crag" of the Eastern Counties, of which more than half are still existing, either in British Seas, in the Mediterranean, or on the coasts of Norway and North America. And in part of Table Case 11 is exhibited a collection of Lithodomous Mollusca, with their crypts or cells: they are chiefly from the Crag of Suffolk.

3. MIOCENE, or "Middle Tertiary." To this period are referred the Shells from Touraine, Bordeaux, and Poland, in Case 6; from Malaga, Case 4; and from St. Domingo, Case 13. Some of the Shells collected in the Canary Islands, and in Madeira, by Sir Charles Lyell, are referred to the same period: they are also in Table Case 13.

4. EOCENE TERTIARY, or London Clay and Paris Basin (Cases 4, 5,

now

and 8), Room VI. Not any of these can be certainly identified with living Shells; and the species which they most resemble are found at the Cape of Good Hope, the western coast of South America, and other localities remote from those where the fossils have been found.

SHELLS OF THE SECONDARY STRATA. (Rooms V. & VI.)

5. Chalk, Gault, and Green-sand (CRETACEOUS SYSTEM). (Table Cases 1 and 2, Room V.) The characteristic Shells of the Chalk are Inocerami, related to the recent Pearl-oyster; Spondyli; Scallops (Pecten), of peculiar form; "Cockscomb oysters, and species of Lima and Pleurotomaria. One peculiarity of the Chalk Fossils is, the constant absence of the interior pearly layers of the shells, which have been removed subsequent to their imbedding. In the Green-sand strata, Trigonia abound, and peculiar bivalves, of an extinct family (Hippuritida), related to the recent Chama. Case 1, Room VI.

6. JURASSIC, or OOLITIC SHELLS. (Cases 2 and 3, Room V.) The shells of the Portland stone, Bath stone, and other Oolitic rocks, and of the Lias, include numerous species of Trigonia, the internal casts of which are often found, whilst the shells have been dissolved and removed from the rock; they are called "horse-heads" by the quarry-men, and are sometimes silicified, and contain traces of the shell-fish itself. Amongst the Oolitic oysters, are some whose shells have been moulded on Trigonia and Ammonites.

7. The SHELLS OF THE TRIASSIC SYSTEM in Case 4, Room V., consist of the original specimens figured and described by Dr. Klipstein, in his work on the fossils of the salt-marls and Alpine limestone of Austria.

PALEOZOIC SHELLS.

8. MAGNESIAN LIMESTONE (Permian), of Northumberland and Durham. (Case 4.)

9. CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE, and Coal-measures of Britain and Belgium. (Cases 4 and 5.) Chiefly from the collection of Professor De Koninck, of Liege.

10. DEVONIAN SYSTEM. (Case 5.) Devonshire and the Eifel. 11. SILURIAN SYSTEM. (Cases 5 and 6.) Presented by Sir Roderick Murchison, Bart., K.C.B.

CHAMBERED SHELLS (Cephalopoda).

The Shells of the chambered univalves (Cephalopoda), related to the recent Nautilus and Cuttle-fish (Sepia), are placed in the Table Cases (7 to 12 and 14) of Room V.

In Case 10 are placed the curious fossils named Aptychi and Trigonellites, now known to be the operculum or covering to the mouth of the shell of the Ammonite.

In Case 11 the fossil Nautili are displayed. Those from the London Clay of Highgate and Sheppey are specially worthy of notice.

ROOM VI.

Room VI. is occupied chiefly by the osseous remains of the Edentata (quadrupeds without front teeth), and large Pachydermata (thickskinned herbivorous quadrupeds), such as the Elephants and Mastodons. Of the Edentate order of quadrupeds, the most striking example is presented by the skeleton of the Megatherium. The remains of this animal have been met with in the southern parts of South America and more especially in the region of Buenos Ayres. A slight acquaintance with the bony framework of animals may enable the visitor to appreciate the enormous muscular power which this animal must have possessed; the huge Mastodon near it must have been a comparatively feeble animal. The strength of the Megatherium is indicated by the form of the bones, and especially their tubercles and ridges, to which the muscles were attached. In the fore parts of the body the framework is comparatively slender; the contrary is the case with the hind quarters, where enormous strength and weight are combined, indicating that the animal habitually rested on its haunches and powerful tail,, and whilst in that position could freely use its flexible arms, and the large claws with which its fore-feet were provided.

The affinity of this animal to the existing Sloth is evident, from the structure of the skull, blade-bone, &c.; the teeth are the same in number, kind, structure, mode of growth, and mode of implantation, as in the Sloth, whence the similarity of food may be inferred; but the different proportions and colossal bulk of the Megatherium indicate that instead of climbing trees, like the Sloth, it uprooted and tore them down, to feed upon the leaves and succulent branches.

This skeleton is composed, in part, of casts of bones, in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, brought from Buenos Ayres by Sir Woodbine Parish, and, in part, of casts of bones of the same species and size in the British Museum. In the Wall Case No. 4, between the windows, is deposited an extensive series of the bones of different individuals of the Megatherium, all of which are from the region of Buenos Ayres. In Case No. 3 are deposited the bones of allied animals, Scelidotherium, Mylodon, &c., also from South America. On the stand with the Megatherium is placed a portion of a carapace or shell of a species of Glyptodon, an extinct genus nearly allied to the Armadillos, and of which several species have been discovered in South America. In some of these species the carapace must have been from ten to twelve feet in length in all, as in the smaller species here exhibited, it was devoid of those "bands or "joints" which give it flexibility in the small existing Armadillos. In the Wall Case, at the end of the room, may be seen the tail, with the bony sheath, of two of the largest kinds of Glyptodon. In the centre of the Room has been placed the cast of an entire carapace, with the singularly-armed tail sheath of this animal; and on the tops of the Wall Cases are considerable portions of the carapaces of species of Glyptodon.

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The Elephant remains exhibited in the Wall Cases opposite