^56 Natural History in London. 



tinent, will then be done by the public, to supply the wants of the public. 

 In the mean time, the founders of the Zoological Society are entitled to 

 the honour of having commenced this highly rational and humanising 

 species of gratification in England. 



" The number of species and varieties now living of animals belonging to 

 the Society is 194; of which 69 are quadrupeds, and 125 are birds. The 

 whole amounting to 627 individuals, of which 152 are qiiadrupeds, and 475 

 are birds. They are at present generally in good health, order, and con- 

 dition. Measures have been taken to add to them, especially by the ac- 

 quisition of some of the larger and stronger quadrupeds ; and these will be 

 brought forward and exhibited as speedily as dens and enclosures can be 

 prepared for them. 



" The Council very reluctantly postponed to a late period the attempt to 

 render the Society more directly and practically useful by experiments in 

 breeding, and in the domestication of foreign animals. The establishment 

 in the Regent's Park is obviously unfit for this purpose. Its limited space 

 and great publicity operate strongly against the success of such attempts ; 

 and the results have only been satisfactory with some species of aquatic 

 fowls which were last year bred upon the lake. For these objects the 

 Council have long seen the necessity of forming an establishment at such a 

 distance from London as should insure sufficient quiet, and at the same time 

 should be easily accessible: and they have with this view concluded a 

 negotiation with Mr. Pallmer and the corporation of Kingston for the oc- 

 cupation of a farm, consisting of a house with some convenient buildings, 

 and about thirty-three acres of land, nine miles from Hyde Park Corner, in 

 a beautiful situation under the wall of Richmond Park, with a very light 

 soil peculiarly favourable for rearing birds, full of very abundant springs,^ 

 and with some excellent ponds. 



"The application of the farm to the purposes and objects of the Society 

 will be under the following heads : — First, in affording a convenient relief 

 and assistance to the menagery in the park, by removing from it such 

 quadrupeds and birds as may require a quiet place to bring forth and rear 

 their young: also in receiving the duplicates of the collection which it may 

 be expedient to keep in hand to replace those which are exhibited in the 

 park, when necessary; and likewise to maintain such as want a more ex- 

 tended range than the garden at present admits of, or which it is necessary 

 to allow to remain at liberty. Second, the rearing various domesticated 

 quadrupeds and birds, both of ornamental as well as useful varieties, with a 

 view of having their kinds true and free from mixture ; or in effecting im- 

 provements in the quality or properties of those which are used for the 

 table; and likewise in domesticating subjects from our own or foreign 

 countries, which have not hitherto been inmates of our poultry or farm 

 yards. Third, the conducting experiments in all matters relating to 

 breeding and points of animal physiology connected therewith, the range of 

 which is very various and extensive. Many of these will require much 

 time to be completed ; some may be brought to a conclusion within a year 

 or two. It is remarkable that there have never been published any correctly 

 recorded facts, on which the opinions at present entertained by physiologists 

 on many of such matters can be supported. It is to be hoped that the 

 Zoological Society may be the instrument of settling many questions of this 

 description in a satisfactory manner. 



" In the objects of attention at the farm, the breeding and trying ex- 

 periments with fish are of course included." 



The Linnean Society. — The library of Linnaeus and of the late President 

 (mentioned p. S3.) has been brought from Norwich, and is now systematically 

 arranged in the Society's house in Soho Square. The library of the Linnean 

 Society may now be considered one of the first botanical libraries in the 

 world; and its central situation in London, and the facilities afforded to the 



