British Museum (Natural History) General Guide

by British Museum

First Floor.

The upper floors of the wings of the Museum consist merely of single galleries extending along the whole front of the building; for the galleries which run backwards on the ground floor form only a single storey.

British Museum (Natural History).

First Floor.

Second Floor.

Lower Mammal Gallery.

The Lower Mammal-Gallery is entered from the western corridor of the central hall. Together with the adjacent corridor, it contains the greater part of the exhibited series of recent Mammals, with the exception of the Cetacea, Sirenia, and Proboscidea, which are downstairs, and the orders Primates, Chiroptera, Insectivora, and Rodentia, which are in the upper gallery. As three special guides[17] are devoted to these galleries, a very brief notice will serve on this occasion. Both stuffed specimens and skulls and skeletons are exhibited, although the former constitute by far the greater portion of the series. A few remains of extinct types, or plaster reproductions of the same, are introduced here and there; and photographs of living animals are hung on the walls, where will also be found some instructive series showing the modifications assumed by the teeth of certain groups. Wherever possible, the horns and antlers of the Ruminants, as well as the horns of the Rhinoceroses, are placed in juxtaposition to the animals to which they respectively belong.

Fig. 33.—The Platypus or Duck-bill (Ornithorhynchus anatinus).

Fig. 34.—The Yellow-bellied Pangolin (Manis tricuspis) in a characteristic attitude.

Ruminants, etc.

The series commences on the right side of the gallery with the lowest forms. Down the middle is a row of large Mammals, comprising various Deer, Seals, and Rhinoceroses. On the right of the entrance a small case contains the Australian Platypus or Duck-bill ([fig. 33]) and the Echidnas of Australia and New Guinea, which lay eggs, and are the lowest of all living Mammals. In the adjacent bay are the Marsupials, such as Kangaroos, Phalangers, or so-called Opossums, Wombats, and Bandicoots of Australasia, and the true Opossums of America. The eighth and ninth bays on the left side contain the so-called Edentate Mammals, such as the South American Sloths, Ant-eaters, and Armadillos, the Scaly Ant-eaters or Pangolins ([fig. 34]) of tropical Asia and Africa, and the African Aard-Vark or Ant-Bear. The Sea-Cows, as represented by the Dugong, the Manatee, and the recently extinct Rhytina of Bering Island, are shown in the Geological Department. In the second bay are the Pigs and Hippopotamuses; in the third the Camels, and near by the Chevrotains, or Mouse-Deer. Following these are the Deer (Cervidæ), many of which, as already stated, are placed in the middle line of the gallery. Properly speaking, the Giraffes and their recent and extinct allies, the former represented by the Okapi of Central Africa ([fig. 14], p. 41), should come here; but, as already mentioned, it has been found convenient to remove the Giraffe group into the east corridor of the central hall. In one of the cases in the bays stands the Prongbuck or Pronghorn Antelope ([fig. 35]), the sole living representative of a family characterised by the circumstance that the horns have hollow branched sheaths which are shed annually. Next in order come the Antelopes, a large number of which are placed in the corridors outside the gallery. This series, it may be remarked, is particularly fine, and, in fact, unique. At the last two bays on the right side of the gallery the visitor reaches the Goats; and in the “pavilion,” at the west end of the gallery, he comes to the Sheep, Musk-Oxen, and Oxen, of which there is a magnificent display, both as regards mounted specimens and horns. Many of the cases in the middle of the gallery and the bays have been fitted with artificial groundwork, one of the most striking being the European Reindeer case, for which the materials were brought from Norway.

Fig. 35.—Prongbuck or Pronghorn Antelope (Antilocapra americana).

Continuing our survey down the left side of the gallery, the bay next the pavilion and an adjacent case in the middle line contain the Zebras, Wild Asses and the Wild Horse, among which is a specimen of the extinct Quagga. Following this are the Rhinoceroses and Tapirs, some of the former being exhibited in the middle of the gallery. Adult specimens of all the living species except the one-horned Rhinoceros sondaicus of Java are exhibited. The cut (fig. 36) shows the form of the head and the number of the horns in three members of the group.

Fig. 36.—Heads of the White Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros simus, a), Black Rhinoceros (R. bicornis, b), and Great Indian Rhinoceros (R. unicornis, c).

Hyraxes.

In a small case by themselves are exhibited the Hyraxes, which represent a subordinal group of Ungulates. In this place should come the Elephants (Proboscidea), but it has been found advisable to exhibit the existing species of this group alongside their extinct relatives in the Geological Department, and in the central hall.

Fig. 37.—Male and Female of the Northern Fur-Seal, or Sea-Bear (Otaria ursina).

Fig. 38.—Male Elephant-Seal, or Sea-Elephant (Mirounga leonina).

Next in order follow the Seals, Walruses, and Sea-Bears ([fig. 37]); and after these again, the land Carnivora. Among the former, particular attention may be directed to the specimens of Sea-Elephants or Elephant-Seals ([fig. 38]) of the Southern Seas and the Pacific coast of California. The visitor should also notice the various smaller southern Seals, obtained during the “Discovery” Expedition, in the case in the bay. Among the land Carnivora, special interest attaches to the huge Brown Bear from Alaska, the black and white Bear-like Great Panda ([fig. 39]) of North-eastern China, and the case of Tigers, in which both the long-haired Manchurian and the short-coated Indian race are shown.

Fig. 39.—Great Panda (Æluropus melanoleucus).