Guide to the galleries of mammalia (mammalian, osteological, cetacean) in the Department of Zoology of the British Museum (Natural History).
- British Museum (Natural History). Department of Zoology.
- Date:
- 1892
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Guide to the galleries of mammalia (mammalian, osteological, cetacean) in the Department of Zoology of the British Museum (Natural History). Source: Wellcome Collection.
116/142 page 104
![CETACEAN GALLERY. Until the erection of the west wing of the Museum the specimeus of Whale-like animals, for which, on account of their large size, no place can be found in the portion of the Museum galleries already completed, are lodged in a room, temporarily arranged for their reception in the basement, and approached by a staircase leading from the Bird Gallery. The room has unfortunately the disad- vantages of not being well lighted, and of being intersected by massive columns which interfere with the complete view of any of the larger skeletons; nevertheless, the specimens will be safely preserved in it until such time as better accommodation shall be found for them, and visitors can, with very little difficulty, study most of the important peculiarities of these gigantic and very interesting members of the Animal Kingdom. As it is almost impracticable to preserve the skins of the larger species of Whales, owing to the quantity of oil with which they are saturated, the exhibition of the characters of these animals is chiefly limited to their skeletons, assisted by drawings of their external form. The general ap])earance of many of the smaller kinds is, however, shown by stuffed specimens and coloured casts. The Order Cetacea is one of the best marked and most natural of all the larger groups into which the Class Mammalia is divided. In all essential characters, by which Mammals are distinguished from the other vertebrated animals, such as possessing warm blood, breathing air by means of lungs, bringing forth their young alive, and nourishing them for a time with milk, they agree with the other members of their class; the striking external differences being all in relation to their adaptation to an entirely aquatic mode of life.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28122574_0116.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
