CHAPTEE II 



JARDIN d'aCCLIMATATIOIS', PARIS : DIRECTOR, 

 M. A. PORTE 



In 1858 a concession of about forty acres was made 

 in the Bois de Boulogne by the city of Paris to five 

 members of the bureau of the Societe d'Acclimatation. 

 The Emperor Napoleon III. enlarged upon this con- 

 cession by a gift of a further ten acres. A subscription 

 was then opened, with a capital of a million francs 

 divided into 4,000 shares, most of which were taken 

 up by the members of the Societe d'Acclimatation, 

 who, after having conceived the idea of the Garden, 

 wished to endow it handsomely. 



After the preparatory plans had been made by 

 M. Davioud, the resident architect of the city, and 

 approved of by the council of thirty-four of the 

 principal shareholders, the work was begun in July, 

 1859. The arrangement of the work, under the sur- 

 veillance of a committee chosen by the members of the 

 council of administration, was entrusted to Mr. D. W. 

 Mitchell, the Secretary of the Zoological Society, 

 London, who had come to offer his services for the 

 creation of the new undertaking. On the sudden death 

 of Mr. Mitchell in November, 1859, the committee took 

 upon themselves the management of the work. 



