The mammalia saloon.

This saloon is one of the most interesting parts of the exhibition to the general visitor, as he sees here at a glance the various classes of the highest order of the animal creation, all grouped after their kinds, and in that gradation of development which nature has assigned them.  Those specimens which are placed on the floor in the central space of the room include some large varieties of the Bears, and a few small specimens of Seals, including the young of the harp seal, with the white fur, which clothes them on their first appearance in the world, and the young of the Cape of Good Hope eared seal; but these isolated specimens should not engage the attention of the visitor before he has followed the systematic arrangement or classification adopted with regard to the animals deposited in the wall-cases that line the saloon.  The first series or family of animals to which, according to Cuvier, his particular attention should be attracted are

The monkeys,

ranged in the first eleven wall-cases.  These cases contain the species of monkeys found in the Old World.  The varieties in colour, shape, size, and attitude, are endless.  Here are the green monkeys from Western Africa; the white-throated monkey from India; the bearded monkey, with a republican air about him; and the monkey who appears to have had his ears pulled, but is in reality known to scientific men as the red-eared monkey; both from Fernando Po:  the Risley of monkeys, called the vaulting monkey, with his white nose; and the talapoin, from Western Africa; the gaudy macaque, known as the brilliant from Japan; that dingy gentleman, the sooty mangabey, from Africa:  the African chimpanzee (to whom satirical gentlemen with a turn for zoological comparisons, are greatly indebted); the ourang-outan, with his young, from Borneo; the presbytes, dusky and starred, from Singapore, Malacca, and Borneo; and the drill and mandrill, from Africa.  The Monkeys of the New World are grouped in six cases (12-18).  Herein the visitor should particularly notice the curious spider monkeys, from Brazil and Bolivia:  the negro monkey; the apes, with large eyes, like those of the owl, called night apes; the howlers, so called from the incessant howling they maintain at night in their native forests; the quaint marmozettes and handsome silky monkeys; and the Jew monkeys.  The next two cases contain specimens of the lemurs, more familiarly known as Madagascar monkies.  Of these the flying lemur is the most remarkable species.  Specimens of this species are grouped in the lower part of the cases; they are from the Indian Archipelago; and in the texture of their skin and the loose and light way in which it connects their limbs, they resemble bats.  They nurse their young by forming a kind of couch with their body suspended downwards from the branches of a tree.

It now remains for the visitor to direct his attention to the fine collection of