14 



NATURAL SCIENCE. 



July. 



ordinary expenditure consisted of ;^50o for the giraffe, and £i,i^g for 

 drainage works. This latter sum was spent in setthng the long-vexed 

 question of the drainage into the Regent's Canal. The Gardens now 

 drain straight into the new Gloucester Gate sewer, and the trouble of 

 the past fifty years has been brought to a termination, satisfactory at 

 once to the vestries of St. Marylebone, St. Pancras, the Directors of 

 the Canal Company, and, most important of all, to the inhabitants 

 of the neighbourhood. About one hundred persons are employed in 

 the care and maintenance of the menagerie and Gardens, and the 

 public will miss the popular keeper of the lions, Seth Sutton, who has 

 been pensioned off after nearly forty years' service. 665,326 persons 

 visited the Gardens during 1895. The last ;^i,ooo due on the 

 mortgage debt has now been paid off, and the Society's freehold 

 premises, valued at ;^25,ooo, are free and unencumbered. There is 

 also a sum of ;^2,ooo on deposit, and out of this we are promised a 

 new house for ostriches and cranes. 



In view of the great educational work carried on by the Zoological 

 Society through their Gardens, and the general public interest in 

 animals at the present time, as evidenced by the fact that no less than 

 three popular monthly Natural Histories are now publishing, we 

 reprint the following Hst of provisions purchased by the Society for 

 the animals during 1895 • — 



The Royal Horticultural Society's Show. 



As a brilliant spectacle, the Royal Horticultural Society's Show 

 at the Temple Gardens was an undoubted success. The Society did 

 not send us a ticket, but we were present on the opening day. We 

 hope that the number and apparent splendour of the visitors resulted 

 in an equally splendid financial success, and the desired " influx of 

 new members, animated by the single desire ... of improving and 

 advancing the best and legitimate interests of all branches of 

 gardening." Since its foundation in 1804, much useful work has been 

 done by the Society. Besides experimental cultivation for the 

 improvement of varieties of flowers and fruits, carried on continuously 

 at Chiswick, many plants have been introduced from abroad. Don, 



