How to See the British Museum in Four Visits. Blanchard Jerrold. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Blanchard Jerrold
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of mixed colours. The next fourteen wall-cases are filled with specimens of the different species of Oxen and the Elephant tribe. Among the former the visitor should notice the white bulls of Scotland and Poland: the splendid Lithuanian bison, with his shaggy throat, a present from the Russian Emperor; the bison of the American prairies; and the elando. The specimens of the elephant tribe, ranged in the upper compartments of these cases, include the tapir of South America; the tennu, from Sumatra; the European boar, with its young; the Brazilian peccari: and other curious animals. Here, too, are specimens of the Armadillo tribe. The attention of the visitor will, however, be soon riveted upon an animal which, with the beak of a duck and the claws of a bird, has the body of an otter. In Australia (its native country) this singular animal is commonly called a water mole, but to scientific men it is known as the mullingong; it is placed in the same order with its neighbour, the spring-ant or echidra, also a native of Australia. Before leaving these cases, the visitor should pause to notice the Sloths, and particularly the repulsive aspect of the yellow-faced sloth of South America.

      The visitor should now pass to the cases marked from 17 to 30. These are devoted to the Horse tribe and Deer. Here the reindeer from Hudson's Bay, the red fallow deer of Europe, the elk, and the cheetul of India, will catch the eye immediately. The beautiful South African zebra is here also, grouped near the Asiatic wild ass, and the Zoological Society's hybrids of the zebra, wild ass, and common donkey. The upper shelves of the cases are devoted, as usual, to the smaller specimens of the tribe below. Here are the European roebuck, the West African water musk, the Javan musk, the white-bellied and golden-eyed musk. Having examined these zoological specimens, the visitor should proceed on his way east to

      THE MAMMALIA SALOON.

      This saloon is one of the most interesting parts of the exhibition to the general visitor, as he sees here at a glance the various classes of the highest order of the animal creation, all grouped after their kinds, and in that gradation of development which nature has assigned them. Those specimens which are placed on the floor in the central space of the room include some large varieties of the Bears, and a few small specimens of Seals, including the young of the harp seal, with the white fur, which clothes them on their first appearance in the world, and the young of the Cape of Good Hope eared seal; but these isolated specimens should not engage the attention of the visitor before he has followed the systematic arrangement or classification adopted with regard to the animals deposited in the wall-cases that line the saloon. The first series or family of animals to which, according to Cuvier, his particular attention should be attracted are

      THE MONKEYS,

      ranged in the first eleven wall-cases. These cases contain the species of monkeys found in the Old World. The varieties in colour, shape, size, and attitude, are endless. Here are the green monkeys from Western Africa; the white-throated monkey from India; the bearded monkey, with a republican air about him; and the monkey who appears to have had his ears pulled, but is in reality known to scientific men as the red-eared monkey; both from Fernando Po: the Risley of monkeys, called the vaulting monkey, with his white nose; and the talapoin, from Western Africa; the gaudy macaque, known as the brilliant from Japan; that dingy gentleman, the sooty mangabey, from Africa: the African chimpanzee (to whom satirical gentlemen with a turn for zoological comparisons, are greatly indebted); the ourang-outan, with his young, from Borneo; the presbytes, dusky and starred, from Singapore, Malacca, and Borneo; and the drill and mandrill, from Africa. The Monkeys of the New World are grouped in six cases (12–18). Herein the visitor should particularly notice the curious spider monkeys, from Brazil and Bolivia: the negro monkey; the apes, with large eyes, like those of the owl, called night apes; the howlers, so called from the incessant howling they maintain at night in their native forests; the quaint marmozettes and handsome silky monkeys; and the Jew monkeys. The next two cases contain specimens of the lemurs, more familiarly known as Madagascar monkies. Of these the flying lemur is the most remarkable species. Specimens of this species are grouped in the lower part of the cases; they are from the Indian Archipelago; and in the texture of their skin and the loose and light way in which it connects their limbs, they resemble bats. They nurse their young by forming a kind of couch with their body suspended downwards from the branches of a tree.

      It now remains for the visitor to direct his attention to the fine collection of

      RAPACIOUS ANIMALS,

      ranged in thirty-two distinct wall-cases in this room. The first tribe, taking the cases in their order of succession, to which the visitor's attention will be attracted on passing from the cases of lemurs, is

      THE CAT TRIBE.

      The animals which he will find grouped in the first seven cases (21–27) are properly Cats. Here is the South African lion, the fine black leopard, which is pointed out to visitors as a beast that killed its keeper; the lynxes of Spain, Sardinia, and America; the wild cats of Europe; the curious booted-cat, imported from the Cape of Good Hope; the American ocelots; and the Asiatic and African chaus. These animals are picturesquely grouped in seven cases. In the next case, in order of succession (28), are the hyaenas of South Africa and Egypt. Here are the spotted hyaena, with its young; and the striped hyaena. The three following cases are filled with varieties of the civet family (esteemed for the strong scent which some of them, as the African cibet and the Chinese and Indian zibet, yield), including the hyaena civet from the Cape of Good Hope: genets and ichneumons, which will be found on the lower shelves; and the Mexican house-marten. The five following cases are filled with the varieties of

      THE DOG FAMILY.

      Here the sporting visitor may amuse himself by examining the points of the Dogs of the four quarters of the globe. Here are the well-known Newfoundland dog, the wild dogs of different climates, the four-toed hunting dog of Abyssinia and South Africa, the Cape of Good Hope dog, with its long ears; the varieties of fox and wolf; all expressing great activity and extraordinary cunning. Ladies will be pleased to notice a lap-dog almost hidden by his long hair, placed under a particular glass-case: this exclusive little aristocrat is from Mexico.

      In the next case to which the visitor will direct his attention (38) are grouped the varieties of the Mustelina, or Martens, of America and Europe. These lesser specimens of the cat tribe, include the weasels of Himalaya, Mexico, and Siberia; the American and European polecats: the lesser otters, from the north of America and Europe; and the curious animal known as the false sable of America. It is amusing to notice the sameness of expression—that of cunning—shown in the heads of every specimen of the cat tribe. The next case (39) introduces the visitor to those mammalia which are included in

      THE BEAR TRIBE.

      This tribe includes the Racoons, Otters, Badgers, Skunks, Gluttons, and Bears. The case to which the visitor's attention is now directed, contains the varieties of the glutton family—the Chinese musk weasel; the European and North American badgers; the Javan stinkard, and the American skunks and conepats.

      The next case (40) is devoted to the otter family. These ingenious animals are found in the four quarters of the world. Here are the common European otter; the otters of Java and India; the clawless African otter, from the Cape of Good Hope; and the sea and muffled otters, from America. Next to these interesting animals, are some of the bears, including the savage Arctic white bear, the Malay bear, and the Indian sloth bear. Next to these bears, the racoons are grouped, and they close the collection illustrative of the bear tribe. In the case following those which contain the racoons is one (43) in which the varieties of

      THE MOLE TRIBE

      are arranged. These include Moles from the four quarters of the world. There are the North American marsh moles and long-tailed star-nosed moles; the golden moles, from the Cape of Good Hope; the varieties of the shrew-mouse, including the remarkable blue shrew-mouse of India, the African elephant shrew, and the Russian musk shrew; the Javan insectivorous squirrel; and a curious variety of hedgehogs, from opposite quarters of the globe. Having examined these inferior mammalia, the visitor will pass in direct