218 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



the Gardens £9,463 2s; admission to the museum ,£38 7s. Among the ex- 

 penses incurred in the department of the Gardens were salaries and wages to the 

 amount of £2,658 8s. 8d. ; cost of animals £l,478 14*. lid. ; carriage of 

 animals £l,040 12s. Id.; food £l,853 12s. 6d.; works, repairs, &c, £ 1,981 

 4s. 5d. ; and the museum formation £2,075 3s. 9d. ; arrears of the previous and 

 current year £810; invested in land £l,100; in cash £l,159 Is. 5d.; and 

 capital funded £9,261 12s. Id. The liabilities consisted of debts £l,382 2s. 7d., 

 and contracts pending £ 1,453 18s. 8d. The average of the permanent and 

 necessary expenditure of the last three years is upward of £10,000, the average 

 annual subscriptions, during that period, being £5,200, exclusive of composition 

 fees. The money required for the requisite expenses is mainly obtained by 

 admissions to the Gardens. The revenue from this fruitful source, as might be 

 expected, has varied considerably during the last seven years, the maximum 

 having been in 1831, when £ll,425 16s. was received; the minimum (1835) 

 was £7,343 6s. ; in the past year it amounted to £9,463 2s. It was proposed, 

 that in future the minimum of the investment fund should be the amount which 

 has been obtained from the annual subscriptions, and that all the money received 

 for compositions should be invested permanently, with any other sums the Coun- 

 cil might be able to add. 



Mr. Yarrell then read the report of the Council, announcing that the present 

 number of members is 3,050, and that there are 43 candidates for election. 

 During the year 1836, 291 were added, 33 had been removed by the Council, 30 

 had resigned, and 56 had died. The number of Corresponding Members is 112 ; 

 Foreign Members 24; and Honorary Members 10. The finances of this Society, 

 always flourishing, have lately been unusually so, as, during the past year, the 

 sum received from members had nearly equalled that for admissions to the 

 Gardens. The library, which had been particularly attended to by the late 

 Secretary, E. T. Bennett, Esq. — whose lamented death we have already 

 announced — includes 420 volumes, of which 353 were presented, and 67 pur- 

 chased; and it is the intention of the Council to devote an annual sum in future 

 for the purpose of enlarging it. The report states, that in the last year 263,392 

 persons have visited the Gardens, of which 64,1 02 were members or their friends; 

 10,028 were admitted by ivory tickets, and 189,263 by payment ; the sum 

 received from the latter is £2,163 more than in the previous year. The mena- 

 gerie contains 1,025 animals, of which 307 are quadrupeds, 794 birds, and 14 

 reptiles. The number of visitors to the museum was 3,668, from whom £38 7s. 

 was received. The present number of specimens is 6,720, of which 870 are 

 quadrupeds, 4,800 birds, 450 reptiles, and 600 fishes. 



We are happy to be able to add, that the reports were most cordially received, 

 and that the meeting closed, after the election of officers for the ensuing year, 



