20 THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



2Qth tnst. next at one o'clock, when the favour of your attendance is 

 requested. I have the honour to be, sir, your obedient humble servant, 

 Grosvenor Street, 24th April, 1826. S. T. Baffles. 



Wm, Yarrellf Esq.y etc. etc. 



The words in italics are in Sir Stamford's handwriting, 

 showing that the date was not fixed when the circulars were 

 printed, nor was the arrangement with the Horticultural Society 

 announced till the Committee Meeting of April 28. Then it 

 was also reported that the prospectus " had been printed and 

 circulated among persons likely to favour the interests of the 

 Society." No copy of this document is known at the Society's 

 offices. But that it was practically identical with the issue of 

 March 1, 1825, seems clear from the fact that the principal 

 resolutions drafted at this meeting, and proposed and carried at 

 the General Meeting on the following day, were intended to give 

 effect to the ideas therein set forth. The Keport asked for in 

 February (see p. 18) does not appear to have been presented, if 

 indeed it was drawn up. At this April Committee Meeting 

 Sir Stamford Raffles announced that he had " engaged an office 

 at No. 4, Regent Street, for the transaction of the affairs of 

 the Society." 



The first General Meeting was held at the House of the 

 Horticultural Society, Regent Street, on April 29, and about a 

 hundred persons were present, but only Sir Stamford Raffles, 

 Lord Lansdowne, and the Lord Mayor are mentioned, the rest 

 being covered by an " etc." Sir Stamford was called to the chair, 

 on the motion of Sir Humphry Davy ; and, after some formal 

 business, the following resolutions were proposed by the Chairman 

 and carried unanimously: 



I. That a Society to be designated the " Zoological Society " be instituted 

 for the advancement of zoological knowledge. 



II. That the attention of the Society be directed to the following 

 objects : The formation of a collection of living animals ; a museum of 

 preserved animals, with a collection of comparative anatomy ; and a library 

 connected with the subject. 



HI. That the Society shall consist of such members as have already 

 subscribed their names as desirous of joining the Society, or who shall do 

 so on or before the 1st of January next, with the approbation of the 

 Council and of such other members as shall subsequently be admitted 

 by ballot. 



