F. B. Allan

“ Above these exhibits is a very instructive set of longitudinal sections of the skulls of different animals, showing the development of the brain. It will be seen that the brain, coming forward, causes the jaw-bones to be less prominent in man than in any other animal.
At the top of the staircase is a very rare specimen, the great ribbon-fish, an inhabitant of the deep sea, and like the frost-fish, only obtainable when by some extraordinary circumstance, it is cast up upon the shore. The skeleton has been removed from the body, and is shown above it in a good state of preservation. ”

“ Closely allied to the jelly-fish is the Portuguese man-of-war, found occasionally on the sea-shore about Dunedin. Underneath its large hollow float are very numerous tentacles, of all colours, and capable of inflicting a sharp sting on anyone who inadvertently comes in contact with them. Owing to the perishable nature of this animal and the jelly-fish, which are chiefly water, they are represented in the museum by models and spirit specimens only. ”

“ In the sea-urchin, the spines which give it such a forbidding appearance are more for defence than offence. Being attached by a ball-and-socket joint, they are movable and may be readily stripped off, the sea-urchin then presenting to view a hard calcareous case, dotted with five double rows of holes, through which in life, the tube-feet project. ”

“ Its body, like a dried yellowish stick, and its legs like six spiny branches, cause it to be scarcely distinguishable from the blackberry bushes and manuka scrub, in which in New Zealand it is commonly found.
Many insects are very brilliantly coloured, others scarcely at all, while some butterflies, for example, although strikingly marked, and in a museum presenting a conspicuous appearance, are coloured and marked so completely in harmony with the leaves on which they settle, as to be with difficulty recognizable among the surrounding foliage. ”

“ Some of the exhibits illustrate peculiarities in the skeleton, about which doubt formerly existed. Some feathers and a leg and throat, to which skin and flesh still adhere, form unique and valuable specimens, but the fact that the flesh has not decayed and disappeared does not necessarily prove that this particular moa was of more recent date than those of which skeletons alone have been found. The skeletons of these gigantic birds are commonly found, several together, in swampy ground, and the bones are so intermingled that it is rarely that an "individual" and perfect skeleton is obtainable. ”

“ As an additional means of safety, in many species of butterflies the female has a more subdued colouring than the male, and, in some, so much so, that the male and female are mistaken for distinct species. More uncommon than the above imitation of surroundings, is the case where an insect affects a brilliant colouring for the sake of protection, a signal of danger, as it were, to birds and other enemies. ”

“ The Otago Museum, exhibiting the principal types of the animal kingdom, is essentially a zoological museum, and as such, and for neat and scientific arrangement, it probably takes the premier position in New Zealand. ”

“ The habitation of this animal is chiefly in crevices of rocks, the spines projecting on every side, prevent it from falling, and when the sea-urchin wishes to move forward, the tube-feet are thrust out between the spines and fastened to the rock, then by contracting they draw the shell along.
Star-fish and sea-urchins appear to be quite dissimilar in structure, but a little examination and a comparison with allied species will show that there exists between them a close connection. ”

“ The skeleton in fish, however, as we ascend the scale becomes a bony one, and as in all the higher animals, forms the main support of the body. In the shark will be seen the five gill-slits, with a small hole just behind the eye. In higher fishes, these become covered by a bony plate, the operculum, which hides from view the gills beneath it. Then again, a further development is seen in the respiratory organs, in the Australian mud-fish, which in winter breathes by gills in the ordinary way, but in summer when the rivers are low, breathes air by means of lungs. ”

“ Next come the jelly-fish, which, besides their attractive appearance, are noteworthy, in being about the first organisms in the animal kingdom, which have nerves by which to regulate their movements. Experiments have been performed, which show conclusively, that the muscular contractions of the swimming-bell by which the jelly-fish is propelled are due to nerves, for when these nerves, or the structures said to be such, are cut away, the animal is totally unable to originate or direct its movements. Jelly-fish also possess the rudiments of eyes and ears. ”

“ In South America there is a brilliantly coloured butterfly, which, probably on account of some poisonous or unpalatable quality is entirely safe from birds. Another butterfly, of quite a different species, apparently aware of this, has copied the gay colouring of the first butterfly so accurately as to deceive the birds themselves, and so is, in its turn, safe. ”

“ The presence of feathers, together with the fact that by means of the large air-sacs in connection with the lungs, and the porous nature of the bones, the air in respiration finds easy access to all parts of the body, causes the blood supplied by a very large heart, to be maintained at a temperature higher than in any other animal. ”

“ A membrane stretched between its greatly elongated fingers enables it to fly, and another curious fact about it is, that when asleep it hangs by its two hind limbs, head downwards. The few mammals which live in the sea, are represented by seals, whales, and a few others. These are shown in the enclosures, and among them, the crested seal, and gigantic sea-elephant may be noticed. The lower jaw of a whale, in the same enclosure, contains teeth, whereas in other species of whales, as in the large one suspended from the top gallery, teeth are replaced by numerous plates of baleen or whalebone. ”

“ This is a new mode of progression, and excepting in the snake and whale, the hind limbs in all animals above fish, are employed as a means of locomotion. In the frog and the majority of the other vertebrates the fore limbs serve the same function, but in the whale they are modified to flippers, in birds to wings, and in man to arms.
Reptiles are represented at the southern end by alligators and crocodiles. ”

“ Penguins, showing the enormous mass of down on the young birds, are well represented. Although not able to fly, they do not belong to Ratitae. Being sea-birds, their wings have become modified to form powerful swimming paddles, on which the small scale-like feathers lie remarkably close. ”

“ On the ground-floor, at the western side, are the duck-mole and the spiny ant-eater, the first representatives of mammals. They differ greatly from the rest of mammalia, and in many respects resemble reptiles. They lay eggs, and are destitute of teeth. In many ways they differ more from the next highest sub-class of mammals, the marsupials, than any other two do from each other. ”

“ The segmentation of the body, which first occurs in the higher worms, is the most obvious point of resemblance between them, and this is the first step towards the formation of such appendages as legs found in marine-worms. ”

“ When a rabbit having this disease is eaten by a dog, these little structures fasten on to the walls of the intestine, and develop into a tapeworm, which in time deposits its eggs. The rabbits running about eating the grass here and there, get these eggs into their system, where they develop into bladder-worms. ”

“ The arrangement is according to nature; animals which are similar in structure are grouped together, and groups representative of successive degrees of development are placed in order as far as practicable.
To follow out this arrangement a start should be made on the desk cases of the upper gallery, commencing at the eastern side. Here will be found specimens of the lowest forms of animal life. The very lowest, being microscopic, are necessarily unrepresented by real exhibits ”

“ Cut into blocks and polished, some of them show very pretty markings, and although, it is unnecessary to go into the value of these woods, many of them make useful and durable building materials. The kauri, for example, is for many purposes one of the finest woods in the world. ”

“ Such instances of teeth with persistent pulps, growing to an abnormal length, are not infrequently seen in rats and rabbits, where the teeth in one jaw have been lost, and nothing is left to wear away those in the other. ”