122 THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 



1854, a printed Protest had been privately circulated by J. E. 

 Gray of the British Museum. No copy of it is known ; but its 

 purport is sufficiently indicated by an article in the Literary 

 Gazette of April 28, 1855. The writer complained that for the 

 previous three years the expenditure had exceeded the income 

 by an average of £2,000 a year; and maintained that the out- 

 goings ought not to exceed £12,000 a year. For 1855 the 

 estimates had been calculated at £14,000, and the Secretary 

 asserted that they could not be reduced. 



Certain remedies were suggested. One was, that fewer 

 animals should be kept. "The mass of the public," said the 

 Protester, "only require fine specimens of certain popular 

 animals, with occasional new attractions." It was also pro- 

 posed that no money should be spent on new buildings, that 

 the business of the Society should be conducted at the Gardens, 

 and the Scientific Meetings held in the rooms of some other 

 society. To the possible objection that the latter would not 

 be well attended, the anticipatory reply was that matters 

 could not be worse than they had been of late. 



The number of Fellows attending at these meetings seldom exceeds six 

 or eight, and sometimes there are not more than half as many, the greater 

 part attending as a duty with the view of preventing the meetings from 

 dropping altogether. 



It was also proposed that the expenditure should be brought 

 under the control of the Council, and the accounts properly 

 audited. 



The following paragraph is editorial comment : 



We quite agree with Dr. Gray that the business premises of the Society 

 should be at the Gardens, and that the scientific meetings should be held 

 in the meeting-room of some other society. But the truth is, that the 

 scientific business of the Society is neglected, and its publications are 

 becoming most inconveniently more and more in arrear. 



The question of making Tuesday, as well as Monday, a 

 sixpenny day, was considered in 1854 ; but the Council decided 

 that it was not possible. During August, September, and 

 October in 1860 the public were admitted on Saturdays at 

 sixpence. There was a natural protest on the part of some 

 Fellows, and the practice was stopped. 



