A Catalogue of Mammalian Exhibits of Zoological Galleries of the Indian Museum

About this book

The Indian museum was established in the year 1814, but zoological galleries were set up later, in the year 1878. Since then, only one catalogue on total mammalian collections was published in two volumes by Anderson(1881) and Sclater (1891). With the establishment of the zoological survey of India in the year 1916, the zoological galleries along with the displayed and reserve collections, came under the supervision of the survey.

The sources of collection of the exhibits are various. Some of the mammal specimens were originally the property of the Asiatic Society of Bengal which was established in the year 1784 by Sir William Jones. Blyth (1863) published a catalogue dealing with the collection of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Those mammalian collections were later handed over to the Indian museum. So, the gallery is enriched with century old exhibits also.

Private donors, too numerous to mention, also contributed substantial collections. Collections of W.Rutledge, C.J.T. Llyod, A.R.S. Andersons, H.P. Vieree, Thakur Jaswant Singh, E. Blyth, etc., specially enriched the gallery. In the recent period, the main sources of collection are from Kolkata Zoological Garden and zoological Survey of India.

The collection is also enriched with invaluable specimens, collected during different expeditions viz., Yunnan expedition in 1868 and 1875, northern and eastern frontier expedition in 1870, Pamir boundary commission in 1896, Lhasa expedition in 1903, Abor expedition in 1911 etc.

Contents

Introduction

I. Order Monotremata
1. Family Tachyglossidae
2. Family Ornthorhynchidae

II. Order Marsupialia
1 Family Vombatidae
2. Family Didelphidae
3. Family Phalangeridae
4. Family Macropodidae

III. Order Insectivora
1. Family Soricidae
2. Family Erinaceidae

IV. Order Scandentia
1. Family Tupaiidae

V. Order Edentata
1. Family Dasypodidae
2. Family Myrmecophagidae
3. Family Bradypodidae

VI. Order Chiroptera
1. Family Pteropodidae

VII. Order Pholidota
1 Family Manidae

VIII. Order Carnivora
1. Family Ursidae
2. Family Viverridae
3. Family Canidae
4. Family Herpestidae
5. Family Mustelidae
6. Family Felidae
7. Family Procyonidae
8. Family Hyaenidae
9. Family Phocidae
10. Family Otariidae
11. Family Odobenidae

IX. Order Perissodactyla
1. Family Rhinocerotidae
2. Family Tapiridae
3. Family Equidae

X. Order Artiodactyla
1. Family Cervidae
2. Family Tragulidae
3. Family Camelidae
4. Family Bovidae
5. Family Suidae
6. Family Hippopotamidae
7. Family Giraffidae

XI. Order Primates
1 Family Lorisidae
2. Family Galagidae
3. Family Lemuridae
4. Family Daubentonidae
5. Family Cercopithecidae
6. Family Hylobatidae
7. Family Pongidae
8. Family Hominidae
9. Family Cebidae
10. Family Callithricidae

XII. Order Proboscidea
1. Family Elephantidae

XIII. Order Rodentia
1. Family Hydrochaeridae
2. Family Myocastoridae
3. Family Rhizomyidae
4. Family Sciuridae
5. Family Hystricidae
6. Family Muridae

XIV. Order Lagomorpha
1. Family Leporidae

XV. Order Sirenia
1. Family Dugongidae

XVI. Order Cetacea
1. Family Platanistidae
2. Family Delphinidae
3. Family Phocaenidae
4. Family Balaenopteridae
5. Family Monodontidae

Literature cited
Glossary

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