Fossil animals.

Of these the most interesting specimens are the remains of the Marine Lizards known as ichthyosauri from the English lias formation.  To the right on entering, against the eastern wall of the room, the visitor should first notice the fossil remains of various carnivorous animals, including the skulls and other osseous wrecks of hyenas, bears, &c., and also, carefully screened in an additional glass case, hereabouts, the lower jaw of a marsupial animal on a slab of oolitic limestone—­an early deposit, in which the highest class fossils generally found are the tortoises.

In this room, however, the visitor will notice the progress of early creation—­first, the zoophytes; then the fish lizards; then the fossil ruminants; then the fossil carnivora.  Examples of these fossil remains are all included in the room which the visitor has now reached.  First, he should examine the fossil remains of the ichthyosauri, or fish lizards, ranged in the first three wall cases, particularly that eighteen feet in length, deposited in the third case, one on the upper shelf of the fourth case, and another on the upper shelf of the fifth case.  The case marked F contains fossils of a higher order than the reptiles, as the bones and antlers of deer, found in later strata of the earth’s crust; and on the top of the case are the horn and skull of a species of Texan bos.  Having noticed these curious remains, principally of extinct species of animal life, the visitor should at once turn to the table cases which contain the last of the illustrations of the mineral kingdom.

Minerals.

The southern tables include the numbers 24 to 30.  The first table contains a very attractive collection of minerals, including the varieties of jasper; all kinds of opals—­the sun opal, the semi-opal, wood opal, and wood partially opalised.  The second table (25) is covered with varieties of Silicates of Lime, magnesia, and alumina; also soapstone, keffekil, or the meerschaum, highly esteemed by smokers, serpentine, chrysolite, &c.  The third case (26) is devoted to Silicates of Zinc, magnesia, serium, copper, iron, bismuth, and other minerals; the fourth and fifth cases (27, 28) to zoolitic substances; the sixth case (29) to various minerals including samples of jade or nephrite, of which the tortoise, in the first room of this gallery, is manufactured; and the seventh case (30) to felspathic substances, including amazon stone from the Urals, and Labrador felspar.  The northern cases are numbered from 31 to 37.  In the first case (31) are varieties of felspar; in the second case (32) are micaceous and other mineral substances; in the third case (33) are basaltic hornblende, tremolite, &c.; in the fourth case (34) are varieties of asbestus, which defies the action of fire; jeffersonite; jenite from the Elba, &c.; in the fifth case (35) are various pyroxenic minerals; in the sixth case (36) are various kinds of garnets, including the lime and chrome varieties; and in the 37th case are the silicates, including beryls, and the emerald.