492 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 
Number of new Species described in the year 1897. 
Mammalia 5 : : ‘ F » (285 
Aves. . 3 ; 5 E x 3 105 
Reptilia and Batrachia . : ‘ : ; «40 
Pisces . . é : . J ‘ . o, eS 
Mollusca . 2 : : A . a alia 
Brachiopoda . : : - 3 - 5 : 7 
Bryozoa . : 4 5 : 4 5 : - 6 
Crustacea. ‘ A 3 : : s 7 a9 
Arachnida ; s ; : : F = "659 
Myriapoda 5 : : , : b : 26 
Insecta. ‘ 3 ‘ p ; ; 3 . 8,364 
Echinodermata : : ‘ 3 : ; sf 1498 
Vermes . ; . : : i : 3 . 294 
Coelenterata . 5 * : = A A . 164 
Porifera . F ; : . 3 , 5 ; 95 
Protozoa . 3 é > : i 3 : s 100 
12,449 
This number, however, includes fossils which I do not think were included 
by Dr. Gunther. We might deduct 450 for them if we wish to confine our 
attention to living animals. This leaves us 12,000. If we multiply this 
by 27, the number of years which have elapsed since Dr. Giinther made 
his estimate, we find a total of 324,000. This number is possibly too large, 
as it makes no allowance for synonyms, still it is a rough indication that 
since 1881 the number of described species has been doubled. Isolated 
groups, such as the mammals, treated in the same way, give us fairly 
similar results, so that now we may, I think, say that there are over 
600,000 described species of living animals. 
It thus appears that during the fifty-one years in the middle of the 
last century the number of known species grew by some 238,000, giving an 
average increase of a little under 5,000 per annum. At the present day 
there are far more workers in the field than there were thirty years ago, 
museums have multiplied, and there are many more zoologists, and it is 
now estimated that the number of species annually described and named 
amounts to some 12,000. 
The number, large as it seems, is, however, but small in comparison 
with the number of species collected and deposited in museums*where no one 
has time to work them out. It is still smaller in comparison with the 
vast numbers of species as yet uncaptured. Dr. Sharp, in 1895, calculated 
that there were a quarter of a million known and described insects. This 
was an increase of 30,000 over Giinther’s figures of fifteen years before, but 
he states that in his opinion this quarter of a million is but one-tenth of 
those which exist. 
With the exception of the larger mammalia—though the Okapi warns 
us the exception may yet prove the rule—there is no group of animals 
which may not yield us new surprises—no group which we can regard as 
well worked out, though naturally some are better known than others. 
What, then, are the zoologists of the world doing to record the animal life 
around them? One thing of late is certainly an improvement. During 
last century the great zoological collections were in the main increased 
and augmented by the chance gifts of hunters and sportsmen, whose chief 
object in their expeditions was not zoology but what is termed ‘ sport.’ 
Many valuable gifts are still received from such sources, but it is now 
recognised that we must not in these matters trust to the sportsman alone. 
The plan of attaching trained naturalists and experts in taxidermy to an 
expedition avowedly meant for other purposes is good, and is well ex- 
