called by zoologists after the Greek name, Batrachia.  The author of the Vestiges of Creation remarks, that the frog is the only animal that, like man, has a calf on the hinder part of its legs.  The batrachian animals are here all grouped in one case (26).  They have many peculiarities.  They are in the first place almost ribless; their feet are in no way armed; many of the toads have no teeth, and those of the frog are insignificant for its size; they have no tails; neither the frogs nor the toads are venomous; the fiery expectorations of the poor toads are matters of household fable only; and their croaking choruses have startled many a poor traveller.  One variety, in the case with which the visitor is now engaged, is remarkable.  Here are specimens of the tree frogs that can walk with their backs downwards on the most polished surfaces, and can slightly change their colour; the paradoxical frog from Surinam, which is larger as a tadpole than in its condition of maturity; the Brazilian horned toads; the American bull frogs; and the Brazilian pipa, the female of which deposits its eggs upon the back of the male, who carries them about till they burst from their shells; the repulsive siren of Carolina, which Mr. J.E.  Gray likens to an eel with fore-legs; and lastly, here is the blushing proteus, which in its native subterranean caverns is of a pale pink, but when brought to the light of day, deepens into a crimson blush; this is represented by a waxen model.  It is strange that political and controversial literature, so rich in chameleons, asses in lions’ skins, and other figures for human fallibility and stupidity, should not contain a few, just a few, varieties of the blushing proteus.

The visitor has now examined all the wall cases of the second room; and his way again lies to the west.  The third or central room of the gallery, which he is now about to enter, is to a large class of country visitors, perhaps the most interesting apartment of the museum.  Herein is deposited a complete museum of the animal life of Britain, comprehending the beasts and birds native to its soil, and the fishes that swim in its waters.

The British zoological room.

In this room, as in the previous rooms, the vertebrated animals are grouped in the wall cases or on the top of the cases.  It is hardly necessary to guide the visitor systematically through the intricacies of a collection, every beast, bird, fish, and shell of which is native to his own land.  In the wall cases devoted to British vertebrate animals he will notice, first the Carnivorous Beasts, which include the foxes; stoats; cats; &c.:—­the Glirine Beasts, including rabbits; squirrels; hares; rats; and mice:—­the Hoofed Beasts, as the fallow deer; the stag; and the roebuck:—­and the Insectivorous Beasts, including moles; hedgehogs; &c.