the Sub-Himalayan mountains.' The petrified Human Skeleton from the coral-rocks of Guadaloupe must also be well known from the figures and descriptions of this interesting fossil, that have appeared in every elementary work on Geology.2 It will, therefore, be unnecessary, in reviewing this grand assemblage of Organic Remains, to enter so largely on the nature and history of the respective objects, as I felt it necessary to do in attempting to render many of the fossils contained in the rooms we have passed under examination, intelligible and interesting to the unscientific observer; and the limits necessarily prescribed to this volume, render details inadmissible. Under the following general heads, the most important specimens will be concisely noticed; I. Synopsis of the Contents of Room VI. II. Fossil Mammalia from the Sewalik Hills. III. Mastodons and Elephants of North America. IV. Mammalian remains from the Tertiary formations of Europe. V. The Megatherium and other fossil Edentata of South America. VI. Fossil Mammalia of the Caverns. VII. Petrified Human Skeleton of Guadaloupe. The fossil Invertebrata in the Table-cases are so well arranged, and so distinctly labelled, as to be readily understood and identified, and require no especial description. ROOM VI. (70 feet long.) SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. WALL-CASES A and B.-The cases on the left or south side of this room contain an extensive and matchless collection of the fossil remains of Elephants and Mastodons; the suite of crania, jaws and teeth, and tusks, comprises specimens of extraordinary interest, and would alone confer celebrity on any Gallery of Organic Remains. These petrifactions are chiefly from the Tertiary deposits of the Sewalik Hills, in Northern India, and were collected by Major Proby T. Cautley, and Dr. Falconer; there are likewise some fine examples of similar parts of skeletons of Mammoths and Mastodons from the alluvial beds of North America. The skulls and teeth of the Elephantine family commence in Case A, and the specimens are placed serially according to their affinity to the kindred group, the Mastodons. The latter occupy the western end of Case B; and the transitional types are placed in the central division of the cabinet; thus constituting a most instructive series of the crania, and maxillary and dental organs, of the extinct forms of proboscidean pachyderms. The skulls are named and arranged in the following order:— 1 "Wonders of Geology," p. 162. 2 Ibid. p. 88. Wall-case C, is devoted to fossil mammalia from the caves of Minas Geraes in Brazil. The upper division contains some fine bones of the Scelidotherium, an animal allied to the Megatherium, and portions of the dermal cuirass of Glyptodon, and Chlamydotherium; and bones of a large species of Machairodus. In the lower compartment are similar remains, and bones and teeth of existing mammalia from the same caves, belonging to species of Monkey, Opossum, &c.; with these are associated shells incrusted with stalagmite of a large existing terrestrial mollusk (Bulimus). Wall-case D.-A fossil HUMAN SKELETON, imbedded in modern concretionary limestone, from the sea-shore of the island of Guadaloupe; presented by Admiral the Honourable Sir Alexander Cochrane. The table in front of this Case, is a slab of the rock in which the skeleton was imbedded. Wall-case E.-A very choice collection of skulls, jaws, teeth, &c. of Bears, Hyenas, and other carnivora, from the caves of Gailenreuth in Germany, Kirkdale in Yorkshire, and Torquay in Devonshire. Wall-case F.-In this Case, which is on the right of the entrance from Room V. (see plan, ante, p. 462), are specimens and models of Palæotheria, Anoplotheria, and allied extinct genera of pachyderms from the eocene deposits of France; principally from the gypsum quarries at Montmartre, near Paris. Several of the specimens, and the greater part of the models, were formerly in my collection, having been given me by Baron Cuvier. On the uppermost shelf there is a fine example of the upper and lower jaws with teeth, collected and presented to me by M. Constant Prevost: and a beautiful lower jaw imbedded in limestone, which I obtained from a quarry at Montmartre, and succeeded in exposing it in its present perfect state. 1 M. Arvernensis, so named from Auvergne, the district in which this species was first identified. I would here supply an omission in the account of the Fossil Mammalia from the Tertiary deposits of Auvergne, given in a previous Chapter; ante, p. 353. The collection should have been described as having been formed in part by M. Croizet; most of the specimens exhibited were purchased of this eminent observer; many of M. Pomel's are not yet arranged. G.-SKELETON OF MEGATHERIUM CUVIERI vel AMERICANUM.-This was modelled from the original separate bones; some of which are in this collection, and others in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. It is twelve feet long, and eight feet high. The annexed outline (Lign. 112), is the first published representation of this interesting skeleton, and has been drawn with great care by the eminent artist, Mr. Joseph Dinkel.1 H.-Skull and tusks, of ELEPHAS GANESA; a remarkable fossil Elephant, from India; presented by Major Baker, of the Bengal Engineers. I.-Skeleton of MASTODON OHIOTICUS, or Mastodon of the Ohio, from North America; it is 9 feet 7 inches high, and 20 feet long. The tusks are 7 feet 2 inches in length, and 9 inches in diameter. On the same platform there are 5 bones of the fore-foot (3 carpals and 2 metacarpals), nearly twice as large in linear dimensions as the corresponding parts in the above skeleton, of the Elephas meridionalis, dug up in the brickfield at Grays, in Essex. Under the above skeleton, is placed the model of a perfect cranium and lower jaw of a very young Mastodon; the germs of the tusks are just appearing: it measures 2 feet from the front of the jaw to the occiput, and 1 from the summit of the skull to the inferior margin of the lower jaw. ON THE TOP OF THE WALL-CASES. A. a. A fine series of tusks of the Mammoth (Elephas primigenius), from Drift; some of them are from the Arctic regions, and were brought home by the Officers of the Expedition sent in search of Sir J. Franklin. Among these is an enormous tusk curved upwards in a spiral direction, which is of the extraordinary length of 12 feet: it was dug up in frozen gravel on the banks of Mackenzie River. B. b. Bones of Mammoths from the alluvium of North America; and of Elephants and Mastodons from the Sewalik Hills. c. Skulls of the existing Indian Elephant of the two varieties,-one with short, the other with long tusks. d. Bones of Mastodons (Mastodon Ohioticus), and Mammoths (Elephas primigenius), chiefly of the extremities, vertebræ, &c. from the alluvial deposits of North America: some of them are from Big-bone Lick, others from the State of Missouri. TABLE-CASES and UPRIGHT-CASES; on the north side of Room VI. 1. ECHINITES, or fossil Echinoderms. An extensive suite of species and genera from various formations, (at present in Table-case 1, Room V.) will occupy this cabinet. The specimens are admirably arranged and named, so as to be easily identified and examined. It is a most instructive collection for the paleontological student, for it comprises a considerable number of the fossil genera of this order of Radiata, viz. 1 Of 17, Upper King Street, Bloomsbury Square. H H Ananchytes, Echinocorys, Echinolampas, Holaster, Galerites, Cidaris, Diadema, Acrosalenia, Glypticus, Disaster, Pygurus, Clypeaster, Scutella, Salmasis, Echinocyanus, &c. There is also a good series of echinital spines. The Chalk Cidarites with spines, and those from the Oolite, are very beautiful; many of my choicest examples of Echinoderms discovered in the Chalk of Sussex are in this cabinet. 2. In this Table will be deposited a collection of fossil Insects and Crustaceans. Among the former are beautiful specimens of Neuroptera, Diptera, &c. from the eocene strata of Aix, in Provence. There is a remarkable and unique fossil wing of an insect in an ironstone nodule from Coalbrook Dale, discovered by me, and named Corydalis Brongniarti.2 The fossil crustaceans are chiefly of the extinct family of Trilobites, and comprise many species from the paleozoic strata.3 There are also species of Astacidæ allied to the Lobster and Crayfish, and of Canceridæ, from the Chalk, (Astacus Leachii, A. Sussexsiensis, figured in my "Fossils of the South Downs"); and others of the same family from Solenhofen. There are likewise a few crustaceans from the tertiary deposits of the Isle of Sheppey, Malta, &c. 3. A miscellaneous collection of fossil zoophytes, ventriculites, choanites, &c. the greater part from the chalk of Sussex, collected by the Author.5 Table-case 4. FOSSIL CORALS.. A miscellaneous collection of Zoophytes. 5. A very fine series of (Terebratula) Brachiopodous shells, named and arranged by Mr. Woodward. A most instructive and beautiful collection, comprising many unique, and rare examples. 6. Unoccupied. 7. Another fine series of fossil Brachiopodous shells; comprising many species of the genera Spirifer, Orthis, Leptana, Productus, Crania, Lingula, &c.6 8. Unoccupied. 9. (Upright-case, 4)-This Case contains on the upper shelf the cranium and lower jaw of the Megatherium, from which the cast of the restored skeleton was taken: in the middle compartment there are ribs and vertebræ, and in the lowest a series of the caudal vertebræ, sixteen in number, as perfect as in a recent skeleton. 10. (Upright-case, 3.) Other remains of the Megatherium: here are the originals of the bones of the feet, and of the humerus, and ulna, of the model. 11. (Table-case.) A highly interesting collection of jaws, teeth, and 1 See "Medals of Creation," ch. xi. p. 340. 2 "Medals of Creation," vol. ii. p. 578. 3 Ibid. p. 552. 4 Ibid. p. 536. 5 For a popular account of Ventriculites and Choanites, see "Thoughts on a Pebble, or a first Lesson in Geology," 8th edition, with numerous plates. "Medals of Creation," p. 378. bones, of several species of Crocodile, Alligator, and other reptiles, from the Eocene deposits at Hordwell, Hants: collected and presented to the British Museum by SEARLES WOOD, Esq. F.G.S. LIGN. 101. ALLIGATOR HANTONIENSIS; FROM HORDWELL. ALLIGATOR HANTONIENSIS. This fine lower jaw was figured and described in the "London Palæontological Journal," Pl. I. It closely resembles that of a species of Crocodile (C. Hastingsia), discovered by the Marchioness of Hastings in the same locality; but the presence in the upper jaw of the sockets for the reception of the inferior canines when the mouth is closed, establishes its generic character. First Caudal Vertebra of Crocodilus Hastingsiæ. -I would direct attention to another fossil in this Case, in illustration of a fact described in a former chapter, (ante, p. 168.) The first vertebra of the tail of a species of Crocodile, showing the double convexity of the centrum. (Lign. 102.) 12. (Upright-case, 2.) Model of the cranium, and of the lower jaw and tusks, of the Dinotherium giganteum, from the miocene strata at Epplesheim, by Mr. Kaup. This skull, including the lower jaw, is about 2 feet high, and 3 feet long from chin to occiput; the tusks, including the projecting sockets sent off from the lower jaw, are 3 feet in FIRST CAUDAL VERTElength; the excluded tusks measuring 15 inches. This Case contains also a fine suite of molar teeth. LIGN. 102. BRA OF CROCODILUS (nat. size.) Femur from Epplesheim, supposed to belong to the Dinotherium: a model in the recess of the window; length, 4 feet; circumference of the shaft, 25 inches; of the head of the bone, 29 inches. 13. (Table-case.) A miscellaneous collection of Reptilian remains from the Wealden of Tilgate Forest, (from the collection of the Author,) are placed here provisionally. There are many highly interesting specimens in this Case, that were obtained with much labour and trouble from the strata of Tilgate Forest; but until they are classified and labelled, any attempt to refer to a particular fossil would be useless. 14. (Upright-case, 1.) Model of one ramus of the lower jaw, with tusk, |