15 



last, exceeded by a very large number the average of the last 

 ten years : and the Council are consequently induced to be- 

 lieve that the repute of the additions above mentioned had a 

 material influence in producing so unequivocal a proof of the 

 public interest in our prosperity. 



With reference to the prospects of the Menagerie in the 

 course of the present season, the Council have already had 

 the good fortune to make mention in their reports to the 

 Monthly General Meetings, that they received information in 

 December last that His Highness the Viceroy of Egypt, Ab-^ 

 has Pasha, had on the 14th of November confided to the care 

 of the Hon. C. A. Murray, a young living Hippopotamusi, 

 which had been brought down from the White Nile expressly 

 for the acceptance of the Society. The extreme care and 

 good management with which Mr. Murray has preserved this 

 most valuable and unexpected gift, gives the Council every 

 ground to hope that it will be successfully transported to this 

 country before the expiration of the month of May, 



The Coimcil feel that it is unnecessary to advert in greater 

 detail to the interest which the possession of this animal will 

 impart to the Society's Collection; and content themselves 

 by stating that they have taken every possible precaution to 

 ensure its safety during the voyage from Alexandria. 



They have also thought proper to give proof of the gratis- 

 tude of the Society for the munificent aid of His Highness, 

 without which it would have been entirely impossible to ob-- 

 tain a living example of the Hippopotamus, by transmitting 

 to him a small stud of Greyhounds and Deerhounds under the 

 care of an experienced trainer. His Highness has signified 

 to Mr, Murray his great satisfaction at the course adopted by 

 the Council, and his admiration of the animals themselves. 



The Council have also succeeded in opening a communica- 

 tion with the King of Dahomey, which but for the untimely 

 death of Mr, Duncan, H.M. Vice-Consul at Whydah, in No- 

 vember last, would doubtless have produced some novel and 

 valuable additions to the Menagerie during the current year. 

 The extracts from Mr. Duncan's letter to the Secretary which 

 are printed in the Proceedings of the Meeting of December 

 11, 1849, have a mournful interest from its being one of the 

 last from his pen which reached this country, although full 



