PROGRESS Ob THE, YEAR: 
REPORT OF THE, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE TO THE 
BOARD OF MANAGERS. 
This has been an eventful year in the history of the Zoological 
Society, and has ended in its establishment as a permanent insti- 
tution for the promotion of zoological knowledge, and the 
love of animate nature, in the City and State of New York. 
All our original objects have been furthered, and we have 
attained the following noteworthy results: 
A contract with the City of New York, unanimously 
adopted by the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, 
March 24, 1897. 
Completion of the General Plan of the Park, and its 
unanimous approval by the Park Commissioners, No- 
vember 22, 1897. 
Subscription of the first $100,000 toward the gift of 
$250,000 from the Society to the City; completed 
February 15, 1898. 
Preliminary Plans of nine of the principal buildings, pre- 
pared and submitted for criticism to several American 
and European zoological garden specialists. 
Increase of the membership of the society from 118 to 
600 Active Members. 
AGREEMENT WITH THE CITY. 
On March 24, at the final public hearing before the Commis- 
sioners of the Sinking Fund, the following Commissioners were 
present : 
Hon. William LIL. Strong, Mayor; Hon. Ashbel P. Fitch, 
Comptroller; General Anson G. McCook, City Chamberlain ; 
Hon. John W. Goff, Recorder ; and Alderman John T. Oakley, 
Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Board of Aldermen. 
The proposal by the Society that 261 acres of land in South 
