XXX PKOCEEDOTGS, 



scanty shelter. At Dunstable a substantial repast was partaken 

 of near the crossing-point of the two Roman road-ways, Watling 

 Street and Icknield Way, aiter which a vote of thanks was 

 accorded to Mr. "Worthington Smith, on the proposition of the 

 President of the Geologists' Association, Lieut.-General C. A. 

 McMahon. 



The residence of Mr. Smith was then visited, and his extensive 

 geological and archaeological collection was examined with much 

 interest ; and on the way to the Great Northern Station a brief 

 inspection was made of Dunstable Priory Church, with its beautiful 

 west front of Totternhoe Stone and fine Norman arch. 



Bye Meeting, 16th June, 1894. 

 ZOOLOGICAL GAEDENS, REGENT'S PAEK. 



On this occasion there was the largest gathering of the Society 

 which has ever taken place, more than 140 members and their 

 friends presenting themselves for admission at the turnstiles of the 

 Zoological Gardens. The meeting was favoured with almost perfect 

 weather, and the ornamental lawns and flower-beds of the Gardens 

 were at their best. Actual members of the Society were admitted 

 free on signing their names at the gate, while tickets were provided 

 for all whose names did not appear on the list by the President, 

 Mr. Arthur Stradling, by whom the party was conducted. 



The pelican's enclosure was first visited, and attention was 

 drawn to the fact that nowhere else in London can white birds be 

 seen so little sullied by the sooty atmosphere as these, a state of 

 purity maintained by the well-filled ponds with which they are 

 provided. These birds, with the seals, sea-lions, and otters, sub- 

 sisting as they do entirely on fish, are the most expensive creatures 

 in the menagerie to feed — far more so than the lions and tigers, 

 which are among the least costly. The Zoological Society pays 

 nearly £600 a year for fish, including about £2 a week for live fish 

 for the diving-birds. The great open-air cage for the waders was 

 spoken of as probably the finest tenement for any captive animals 

 in the world ; enjoying abundant opportunities for even lofty flight 

 within its spacious area, the birds are seen in a condition which 

 approximates to freedom, and nest and breed there as they do in no 

 other zoological establishment. 



The series of cages on the opposite side is tenanted for the most 

 part by representatives of the great and worldwide group of the 

 Gallinaceous birds, those akin to our common domestic fowls, 

 the " curassows" or mountain turkeys being especially in evidence 

 just now in the Society's collection. Like so many animals which 

 make their home in the New World, these are arboreal in habit. 

 In this part of the grounds, too, are shown specimens of the 

 interesting Weka-rail of New Zealand, a creature rapidly on the 

 road to extinction, in spite of recent efforts to effect its preser- 

 vation, its extermination being due, like that of the apteryx, to 



