18 THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



in the Regent's Park suitable to the purposes of the Institution. 

 The task of drawing up a prospectus was entrusted to Sir 

 Stamford Raffles, Mr. Sabine, and Mr. Vigors. It was an instruc- 

 tion to them that, as the objects of the Society must be limited 

 by its means, these should not, in the first instance, extend 

 beyond the introduction and domestication of new breeds of 

 animals, with a Museum and Library to be attached as soon as 

 its resources may admit. They were also to present a report " on 

 the present state and progress of Natural History, especially 

 Zoology, with an account of the institutions by which it is en- 

 couraged on the Continent, and showing the necessity of some 

 similar establishment in this country, so as to place the interests 

 of the science on a footing at least equal to that on which they 

 stand elsewhere." 



Another meeting was held on March 4, but little if any- 

 thing was done. On March 17, however, an application was made 

 by Lord Auckland and Sir Stamford Raffles to Mr. Arbuthnot, 

 one of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, for a grant of 

 land from the Crown. This was not the first application 

 for on the previous day they had " visited the piece of ground 

 abutting the Regent's Canal." They expressed the opinion that 

 that piece of nd was " liable to many objections, and that it 

 was possible upon further consideration that the Crown might 

 be induced to let us have ground still more adapted to our pur- 

 pose." A request had evidently been made to them by the Crown 

 Office for some definite information, which is thus conveyed : 



Our first plan would be to have a garden laid out in aviaries, paddocks 

 for deer, antelopes, etc., stabularies for such animals as may require them, 

 lodges and perhaps suitable apartments for the Society to meet in ; and, if 

 possible, pieces of water for fish and aquatic birds. Our buildings would 

 for the most part be low, and in no case ofi'ensive, and the plans will be 

 readily submitted to you. As we find support from the public, we should 

 eventually wish to have a museum attached to it whenever our finances 

 admit, and this would of course be on such a scale and plan as would 

 render it ornamental and suitable to the situation. 



They asked that, in the first instance, five or six acres in 

 " the centre of the ring marked letter A"^ might be granted to 



♦ It is difl&cult to identify the spot thus indicated, for the marked plan has 

 disappeared. But that it was " in the centre of the Eegent's Park " is shown by 

 the oflBcial reply to the application. 



