14 



the public appreciation of it so earnest, that they have no 

 hesitation as to their power of maintaining the improve- 

 ments they have thus far effected. 



Looking at the pecuniary value of the Collection alone, 

 they cannot but regard it as more than doubled within the 

 last seven years, and the gross amount of it, from the 

 unique character of many of the animals added within 

 that period, must be estimated at a very large sum. 



In the scheme which the Council propose to themselves 

 for the maintenance of this splendid series (beyond which, 

 numerically, it is impossible to go, with the existing means 

 of accommodation), their principal object will be to present 

 as many types of form as possible, with the view of illus- 

 trating the generic variations of the Animal Kingdom, 

 rather than to accumulate a mere mass of species from 

 which comparatively little can be learnt by the Visitor. 



By a cai'eful selection of this kind, the Council believe 

 that the general plan of the Founders can be best carried 

 out ; while they desire to lose no opportunity of contribu- 

 ting their aid to another most interesting and important 

 object, which entered so largely into the first project of 

 this Society, namely the Acclimatation of Exotic Animals, 

 whose economic utility or beauty renders them desirable. 



If hitherto but little progress has been made in this di- 

 rection, it is mainly because the experiment has not been 

 vigorously prosecuted, and the conditions of a Menagerie, 

 at all times open to vast crowds of Visitors, are not alto- 

 gether the most favourable for success. 



Much success may be obtained however even under 

 these cii'cumstances, as the Council have now satisfactory 

 proof in the Society's Establishment. And they have the 

 greater pleasure in bringing these interesting facts to the 

 notice of the Fellows in consequence of the foundation of 

 a sister Zoological Society in France, whose efforts are 

 solely directed towards this object. 



The animals to which the Council particularly desire to 

 allude are the Eland Antelopes of South Africa; the 

 Australian Brush Turkey ; the Inipeyan Pheasant, or Mo- 

 naul of Northern India, and two species of the true type of 

 Pheasant from China and Japan. 



1. The Eland. Boselaphus oreas. 



In the year 1 851, the Society received as a bequest from 

 their late President, the Earl of Derby, five Elands. Of 

 these two were males, received in the month of June in 



