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 next gallery contains the Cephalopods, a group of Molluscs
abounding in extinct species, of which the Belemnites, Turrilites (fig.
55), and Ammonites (fig. 56) are some of the best-known. The form and
structure of their nearest living representatives, the various species
of Cuttle-fishes, Squids, Argonauts, and Nautilus (fig. 31, page 62)
are illustrated by models, drawings, and specimens placed near the
entrance of the gallery and along the top-line of the wall-cases. The
third gallery contains the remaining Mollusca, with the Brachiopoda,
Polyzoa, Echinoderma, Worms, and Crustacea; the fourth, the Corals,
Sponges, Protozoa, and Fossil Plants. In these last two galleries most
of the British specimens are placed in the table-cases, and those of
foreign origin in the cases round the walls.
Among numerous other groups which cannot be mentioned, great interest
attaches to the Trilobites (fig. 57) of the Palæozoic epoch, which
are related to the modern King-Crabs and also have affinity with the
Scorpions.
Very extensive is the collection of Fossil Plants from the
Coal-Measures, among which _Lepidodendron_ and _Sigillaria_, as well as
numerous kinds of fern-like leaves, are among the most common.
[Illustration: FIG. 54.--UPPER (_A_) AND LOWER (_B_) SURFACES OF
PTERICHTHYS, AN ARMOURED DEVONIAN FISH.]
[Sidenote: Historical Collections.]
The table-cases of the end gallery contain certain special collections
of historical interest, either from the circumstances under which
they were formed, or the manner in which they came into possession
of the Museum, or from their containing a large number of type
specimens described and figured in various publications. Hence it has
been considered undesirable to break up and disperse these among the
general collection. They include the original collection formed by
William Smith, the pioneer of geology in this country, the Searles Wood
collection of Crag Mollusca, the Edwards collection of Eocene Mollusca,
the Davidson collection of Brachiopoda, the types of Sowerby’s “Mineral
Conchology,” and lastly, but not least in interest, specimens from the
collection of Sir Hans Sloane, which formed part of the nucleus of the
British Museum.
[Illustration: FIG. 55.--A TURRILITE, FROM THE CHALK.]
[Illustration: FIG. 56.--AN AMMONITE, FROM THE OÖLITE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 57.--A TRILOBITE, FROM THE LOWER CAMBRIAN OF
SHROPSHIRE.]
[Sidenote: British Stratigraphical Collection.]
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