Guide to the galleries of mammals in the Department of Zoology of the British Museum.

  • British Museum (Natural History). Department of Zoology.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Guide to the galleries of mammals in the Department of Zoology of the British Museum. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    through the Bharat. Domesticated breeds ot Cattle, Sheep, and Goats are shown in the North Hall. Allied to the Goats, but with shorter horns, are the three :specips of Tahr, Hemitragus (1099 to 1101), examples of which are shown in case 51. In case 52 is exhibited the so-called Rocky Mountain Goat, Oreamnus montanus (1114), one of the few mammals white at all times of the year ; the Serows, Capricovnis (1104 to 1106), and Gorals, Nemorliwdas (1110), of the Himalaya and other Oriental mountain-ranges ; lastly, the Takins, Biulorras (1118 to 1120), of the Mishmi Hills, North of Assam, and (diina. The European Chamois, Ritpicapra tragus (1113), likewise claims a place in this group. The next group is that of the Antelopes and Gazelles, dis- tinguished by their light build, bright colours, and variously purved horns. They are found in their fullest development in Tropical Africa, more than three-fourths of the species being- restricted to that continent. Of the groups exhibited, the following may be noted :— Bushbucks or Harnessed Antelopes, Tragelaplius (West Cor- ridor, case IV), remarkable for the circumstance that the two sexes frequently differ strikingly in colour ; the Kudu {Strep>si- ceros kudu, 1206), one of the handsomest and largest Antelopes; the Lesser Kudu {S. imherhis); the Elands {Taurotragus, 1208, 1209) of Central, West, East, and South Africa ; and the Bongo [Boocercus, 1204). Related to the foregoing is the Indian Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus, 1186), of which an adult is exhibited in Case IN. The Sable and Roan Antelopes {Hippotragus niger and 11. equinus, 1188, 1189) are placed in the West Corridor, as are also the Gemsbuck (^Oryx gazella, 1197) and the Beisa Oryx of Abyssinia (0. heisa). Gazelles (Gazella) are shown in the Gallery (cases 54 to 56), as are the long-necked Gerenuk (Litlwcranius walleri), the Dibatag [Ammodorcas clarkei) of Somaliland, and the spiral-horned Indian Antelope or Blackbuck, Antilope reriicapra (case 56). Case 54 contains examples of the African Pala (^Epyceros melampus, 1123), and also the Angolan Pala (1124). In case 56 is the Saiga [Saiga tatarica, 1146), an aberrant Russian and Siberian species, with an elongated and tapir-like snout. Near [Cases [Cases 54 to 57 and West (i^orridor.] [Cases ' 54^to 56.]
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