deficit in the income may still be recovered which arises 

 from the non-payment of entrance-fees and first yeai's' 

 subscriptions, and which amounts to the sum of £360. 

 In conformity with the pledge formerly given, the Council 

 have continued to reduce the expenditure of the Society, 

 wherever an opportunity occurred of doing so without 

 impairing the generalefficiencyof the several departments. 

 Savings to the amount of £907 2s. Id. on the whole liave 

 been effected under this head during the past year, and 

 the Council cordially respond to the recommendation of 

 the Committee of Auditors " to keep a watchful eye over 

 the future expenditure in order to reduce it as much as 

 possible." It is hoped that the removal of the Museum 

 Establishment to the Gardens, which will probably take 

 place before the next Anniversary, and the consequent 

 concentration of these two departments, will enable the 

 Council to effect a very considerable reduction in the gross 

 expenditure of future seasons, if it does not also add to 

 the permanent income of the Society. 



b. Assets and Liabilities. 



The assets of the Society — or rather the actually avail- 

 able assets, exclusive of stock, buildhigs, and other pro- 

 perty at the Gardens and Museum — amounted on the 

 31st of December to the sum of £14,313 4*. 7d., being 

 an excess of £690 2s. 8d. over the assets of the previous 

 year ; but on the other hand the liabilities of the past 

 year exceeded those of the year immediately preceding 

 by the amount of £462 4*. lie?. 



II. SCIENTIFIC ESTABLISHMENT. 



1. Museum. 



The Society are aware that the conservation of the ex- 

 tensive and valuable Collections in all departments of 

 Zoology which have been accumulating for the last fifteen 

 years, and the providing of a proper building for their 

 ultimate reception, have long been subjects of consider- 

 able anxiety to the Council. The unsetled state of the 

 Museum question for some years past has indeed par- 

 tially paralysed the exertions of the Council in other de- 

 partments, since, independently of the variety of conflict- 

 ing opinions that such a state naturally produced, it was 

 felt that no general or comprehensive plan could be 



