10 



situation of the premises and the interesting nature of the 

 matters brought forward will continue to attract a more nu- 

 merous assemblage of Fellows of the Society than attended 

 the Meetings in Pall Mall. On some evenings the rooms 

 were barely sufficient to afford accommodation to the visitors. 

 This was more especially the case during the reading of Pro- 

 fessor Owen's interesting paper on the Dinornis, an extinct 

 genus of gigantic birds, the bones of which have been recently 

 found in New Zealand ; and of Dr. Falconer's demonstration 

 of the Colossal Tortoise from the Subhimalayan strata, to 

 which he has given the name of Colossochelys Atlas, Pro- 

 fessor Owen's paper has been already published in an extra 

 number of the Society's Transactions, and the observations of 

 Dr. Falconer will appear in a succeeding number. 



III. GARDEN ESTABLISHMENT. 

 1. Works. — a. Carnivora Terrace. 



The terrace for the accommodation of the large Carnivora, 

 one of the most important works ever undertaken at the 

 Gardens, has been completed since the last Anniversary, and 

 the Council are happy to add that the anticipations held out 

 in former Reports of the increased health of this interesting 

 portion of the collection, resulting from a free exposm*e to the 

 external air and the total absence of artificial heat, have been 

 fully reahzed by the result of the experiment. The animals 

 w'ere removed into their new quarters in September, and the 

 effects of more air and greater exercise became visible almost 

 immediately. The African Leopards, which w^ere emaciated 

 and sickly before their removal, became plump and sleek in 

 a fortnight after ; in most instances the females began to ex- 

 hibit symptoms of breeding, and the appetites of all were ma- 

 terially increased. This phenomenon, Avhich was not alto- 

 gether unforeseen, produced the only two casualties among 

 the larger feline Carnivora, which can be fairly attributable to 

 the new building, and to the bold experiment which it was 

 intended to carry out. Shortly after the removal of the ani- 

 mals a tigress and female puma respectively killed, and in the 

 latter case partly devoured, their companions ; this led to an 



