175 



the Chair was taken by Dr. Edward Hamilton, Vice-President, who was 

 supported by Lord Med way, Sir Hugh Low, General Trevor, Dr. Henry 

 Woodward, F.R.S., Lt. Col. H. H. Godwin- Austen, F.R.S. and many 

 other Fellows of the Society. After the Auditors' Report had been read and 

 a vote of thanks accorded to them, and some other preliminary business had 

 been transacted the Report of the Council on the proceedings of the Society 

 dviring the past year was read by Mr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S. , the Secretary. 

 It stated that the number of Fellows on the V^ of January 1897 was 3098, 

 shewing a net increase of 71 Members during the year 1896, The number 

 of new Fellows that joined the Society in 1896 was 207, which was the 

 largest number of elections that had taken place in any year since 1877. 



The total receipts of the Society for 1896 had amounted to £ 27 08l. 

 10. 4, which was ß 123. 1. 3, more than the very successful year 1895. The 

 ordinary expenditure in 1896 had amounted to ß 23 788. 1. 2, which was 

 an increase of ^ 327. 4. 4 over that of the year 1895. Besides this a sum of 

 ^ 2617. 15. 0, had been paid and charged to extraordinary expenditure of 

 which amount ^2600 had been paid on account of the construction of the 

 new house for Ostriches and Cranes. A further sum of ^ 1000 had also 

 been transferred to the Deposit Account, leaving a balance of M 1066. 15. 4, 

 to be carried forward for the benefit of the present year. The usual Scien- 

 tific Meetings had been held during the year 1896 and a large number of 

 valuable communications had been received upon every branch of Zoology. 

 These had been published in the annual volume of »Proceedings« which con- 

 tained Ilio pages illustrated by 52 plates. Besides this parts 1 and 2 of the 

 14^^ volume of the Societies Quarto «Transactions« had been published in 

 1896. A new edition of the List of Animals containing a list of all the 

 specimens of the vertebrated animals that had been received by the Society 

 during the past 12 years had been published and issued to the subscribers 

 to the Publications in November last. The 32"*^ Volume of the Zoological 

 Record (containing a summary of the work done by Zoologists all over the 

 World in 1895) edited by Dr. David Sharp, F.R.S., had been also published 

 and issued to the subscribers in December last. 



The Library containing upwards of 20 000 volumes had been main- 

 tained in good order throughout the year, and had been much resorted to by 

 working Naturalists. A large number of accessions both by gift and pur- 

 chase had been incorporated. 



The number of visitors to the Gardens in 1896 was 665 004, being 322 

 less than the corresponding number in 1895. This slight decrease was 

 easily accounted for by the unsettled state of the weather in the latter part 

 of the past year. 



The number of animals in the Society's Gardens on the 3 P* of December 

 last was 2473, of which 902 were Mammals 1132 Birds, and 439 Reptiles 

 and Batrachians. Amongst the additions made during the past year 1 8 were 

 specially commented upon as of remarkable interest, and in most cases new 

 to the Society's Collection. Amongst these were a young male Manatee from 

 the Upper Amazons, a young male Klipspringer from N. E. Africa, a young 

 female Gorilla from French Congoland, a pair of lettered Aracaris from Para, 

 a young Brazza's Monkey from French Congoland, a Loder's Gazelle from the 

 Western Desert of Egypt, Three Ivory Gulls from Spitzbergen and Three 

 Franklin s Gulls from America. A serious loss was occasioned to the Society's 

 Menagerie by the sudden death in March last of the male Indian Elephant 



