British Museum (Natural History) General GuideBritish Museum (Natural History)
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British Museum (Natural History) General Guide
British Museum (Natural History)
British Museum (Natural History) -- Guidebooks; Natural history museums -- England -- London -- Guidebooks
The last bay (No. V) on the west side of the Central Hall is devoted to
the display of the form and structure of Fishes.
The wall-case on the left side of this bay exhibits the external
form of several characteristic types of Fishes, such as the Pike,
Cod, Turbot, Dog-fish, and Skate, with the names of the various fins
affixed. A striking specimen is the skeleton--mainly cartilaginous--of
the Great Blue Shark (_Carcharodon rondeletii_), fig. 10, which
occupies the greater portion of this case. It should be noted that, as
in all Sharks and Rays, the upper jaw does not correspond with that of
the higher Vertebrates; and particular attention should be devoted to
the structure and arrangement of the arches supporting the gills.
In the south side of the table-case in this bay are shown a number
of dissections, mounted in spirit, displaying the different types
of skeletal structure presented by the fins in various groups of
Fishes. One of the most remarkable of these types occurs in _Ceratodus
forsteri_, the Queensland Lung-fish, in which the skeleton of the fin
consists of a central jointed rod, from each side of which diverge
narrower jointed rods. Alongside are specimens showing special
modifications of certain fins, as in the Flying Fish (fig. 11) and
Flying Gurnard (fig. 12), for the purpose of sustaining the body in the
air, or, as in _Pentanemus_, to serve as organs of touch. Specimens
of the West Indian Goby and the Lump-Sucker show modifications of the
pelvic fins in connection with a sucker on the lower surface of the
body; while other preparations display the pectoral (_Doras_) and
pelvic fins (_Monocentris_) reduced to the condition of saw-like spines.
The structure of the skull of Fishes is illustrated in another part of
the same side of this case. From this the visitor may learn how the
primitive cartilaginous skull of the Sharks (fig. 10), Rays, Chimæras,
and Lung-fishes has been gradually modified, by the addition of
superficial sheathing-bones, into the bony skull of modern Fishes, such
as the Cod and Perch.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--THE FLYING FISH (_Exocœtus_).
FIG. 12.--THE FLYING GURNARD (_Dactylopterus_).]
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