THE CLOUDED TIGER. 



" I am much interested at present in establishing a grand 

 zoological collection in the metropolis, with a Society for the 

 introduction of living animals, bearing the same relations to 

 Zoology as a science that the Horticultural Society does to 

 Botany." 



Sir Stamford Raffles to the Rev. Dr. Raffles, March p, 1824. 



Omne vivum ab ovo. Comparatively few persons 

 in the crowds of visitors to the London Zoo are 

 aware that the Gardens are the property of an old- 

 established and learned Society, founded in the reign 

 of George IV. by the efforts of Sir Stamford Raffles, 

 its first president. The first meeting to discuss the 

 formation of the Zoological Society took place on 

 April 29, 1826, at the "House of the Horticultural 

 Society;" while the first animals contributed to the 

 collection consisted of a griffon vulture and a white- 

 headed eagle from Mr. Joshua Brookes, and a 

 female deer from Sano-or. Still flourishinor after 

 passing through many vicissitudes, this popular 

 institution has undergone an evolution as progressive 

 as that of the animals which it exhibits; while the 

 bust of Sir Stamford, set on high in the lion house, 

 constitutes a fitting link between the present and the 

 past. Aptly, indeed, is this sculpture placed over a 

 collection of living Felidae; for the founder of the 

 Zoological Society was not only an accomplished 



