Extract from the Report of the Council, Nov. 4, 1830. 



" It has been objected to the" Council, that but little of their 

 attention has been directed to the advancement of Zoological 

 Science ; and the apology which they have to offer is, that their time 

 has been necessarily devoted to the very complicated and extensive 

 arrangements under which the formation of their present establish- 

 ments has been begun and accomplished. They have latterly been 

 particularly anxious to place the responsibility of detail upon their 

 salaried officers, so that their own time may be principally applied 

 to more general superintendence, and particularly to the encou- 

 ragement of scientific researches : they have, therefore, endeavoured 

 to establish meetings of such members of the Society as have prin- 

 cipally applied themselves to science ; at which, communications 

 upon Zoological subjects may be received and discussed, and occa- 

 sional selections made for the purpose of publication. They propose 

 from time to time to publish in the cheapest form an abstract from 

 the most interesting of these communications ; and they trust that 

 the first of these papers will be ready for delivery on the first of 

 January, 1831. They further propose, that these meetings shall 

 take place on the second and fourth Tuesdays in every month ; and 

 they have invited, for the 9th of November next, such members 

 of the Society as appeared likely, from their scientific pursuits, to 

 take an interest in their views. 



" The Council have moreover suggested that letters be sent to 

 the superintendents of the principal Menageries in Europe, viz. at 

 Paris, Leyden, Munich, Vienna, Madrid, &c. proposing mutual 

 communication of all observations upon these matters, and an 

 occasional interchange of such animals as may be most easily pro- 

 duced or imported in each country. They have also proposed, that 

 circulars be addressed to the Corresponding Members of the So- 

 ciety, requesting particular information upon such facts of Na- 

 tural History as it may be desirable to investigate at each place; 

 and they further propose that a prize be offered for the Essay which 

 shall contain the best and most extensive practical knowledge upon 

 the importation and domestication of foreign animals in this and 

 other countries." 



The Chairman concluded his Address by calling on the Members, 

 collectively and individually, to forward the views of the Council, 

 by communicating such facts as might tend to the advancement of 

 Zoological Science. 



Mr. Vigors called the attention of the Committee to a Galli- 

 naceous group of America, which supplied in that continent the 

 place of the Quails of the Old World. Of this group, or the 

 genus Ortyx of modern authors, which a few years back was 

 known to ornithologists by two well-ascertained species only, he 

 exhibited specimens of six species ; namely, of Ort. virginianus and 

 calif ornicus, which had been the earliest described, the former by 

 Linnaeus, the latter by Dr. Latham ; of Ort. capistratus, a species 

 lately named and figured in Sir W. Jardine's and Mr. Selby's " II- 



