176 THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON xm 



anticipations, no giraffe has been born in the Gardens during 

 the last twenty years, and elands are still far too scarce to be 

 killed for food of man in England. 



It is well that these experiments should have been tried ; 

 it may be well, perhaps, that some of them should be tried 

 again when favourable opportunities occur ; but it is also well 

 that we should recognise the almost insuperable difficulties 

 that must attend the attempt to introduce a new animal able 

 to compete in useful qualities with those which, as is the 

 case of all of our limited number of domestic animals, have 

 gradually acquired the peculiarities making them valuable to 

 man, by the accumulation of slight improvements through 

 countless generations of ancestors. While all our pressing 

 wants are so well supplied by the animals we already possess, 

 it can no longer pay to begin again at the beginning with a 

 new species. This appears to be the solution of the singular 

 fact, scarcely sufficiently appreciated, that no addition of any 

 practical importance has been made to our stock of truly 

 domestic animals since the commencement of the historic 

 period of man's life upon earth. 



I now turn to the history of one of the most important 

 features of the Society, the scientific meetings. In the early 

 days of the Society there was only one class of general 

 meetings for business of all kinds ; and the exhibition of 

 specimens and the communication of notices on subjects of 

 zoological interest formed part of the ordinary proceedings at 

 those meetings. The great extent, however, of the general 

 business was soon found to interfere with such an arrange- 

 ment. The number of the elections and of the recommenda- 

 tions of candidates, the reports on the progress of the Society 

 in its several branches during each month, and other busi- 

 ness, were found to require so much time as to leave little 

 for scientific communications, and the Council saw with regret 

 that these were frequently and necessarily postponed to 

 matters of more pressing but less permanent interest. To 

 obviate this inconvenience and to afford opportunities for the 

 reception and discussion of communications upon zoological 

 subjects, the Council had recourse to the institution of a 

 " Committee of Science and Correspondence," composed of such 



