1922. Irish Societies. 57 



IRISH SOCIETIES. 



ROYAL ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



January 28. — Annual Meeting in the Royal Dublin Society's 

 Theatre, the President (Sir Frederick Moore) in the Chair. Prof. 

 Elliott Smith, P\R.S., gave an illustrated lecture entitled " Our Rude 

 Ancestors," describing and comparing modern and ancient human skulls 

 and brains with those of other primates, with especial reference to the 

 newly discovered abnorm.al human skull from Broken Hill, Rhodesia. 

 A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to the lecturer. 



The Hon. Secretary (Prof. A. Francis Dixon) presented the l^eport 

 for the year 192 1 in which the Council desires to place on record its grateful 

 appreciation of the whole-hearted support which the Society has received 

 during the year from so many of its members and friends. During the 

 earlier part of the year, owing to the disturbed state of the cit)^ and 

 country, the Society's finances suffered severely, and the outlook became 

 rapidly more and more gloomy. At the beginning of July the gate receipts 

 for the half-year were more than ;£20o below the total sum from this source 

 at the corresponding time in 1920. But, on the establishment of more 

 happy conditions in the middle of July, the public began to visit the Gardens 

 in much greater numbers, with the result that the total gate receipts 

 for the year 192 1 exceeded by a few pounds those of 1920. The visitors 

 in 192 1 came almost exclusively from city and county of Dublin, as there 

 were practically no excursions from more distant parts of the countr3^ 

 Thanks to special efforts made by members of the Society and by the 

 Council, the receipts from the subscriptions of new members in 1921 

 exceed those of 1920 by almost ;^400. This gratifying result will, it is 

 hoped, lead to a further increase in m.embership in the near future, as the 

 Council believes that each new member will endeavour to interest his 

 friends in the welfare of the Gardens. 



Every effort has been m^ade to adjust expenditure to income ; but the 

 continued high prices of food-stuffs and of all services, including transport, 

 has made this extremely difficult. The year, unfortunately, ends with 

 a bank overdraft of l^o^ 2s. 4d, on current account, as compared with 

 ;/^62i 3s. yd. at the end of 1920. This includes an expenditure of ;^I70 

 on new animals during the month of November. The Council felt that 

 it was wise to invest this sum in acquiring specimens of the interesting 

 AustraUan animals brought to England by Mr. Le Souef. Such an oppor- 

 tunity rarely presents itself. 



The total gate receipts for 1921 am.ounted to /3,o25 os. 4d., as against 

 IZ.oog 17s. in 1920, This represents 132,624 visitors. Members' entrance 

 fees and subscriptions amounted to ;^i,o88 los., as against ;^743 13s. in 

 1920, and ^878 13s. in 1919. The year's total of gate receipts in 1921 

 is the third largest in the history of the Society. 



The Right Hon. the Earl of Dunraven has accepted the nomination 

 of the Council to the position of Honorary :vlember. Professor J. E. 



