2832 Zoological Society. 



was scarcely to be doubted that it would have been still larger but for the epidemic 

 which prevailed in August and September. The report from the gates for the current 

 year presented an increase in the receipts of £130, as compared with the correspond- 

 ing weeks of 1849, and of £259 10s. 6d. as compared with 1848. The Council con- 

 sidered tbat the decrease of subscriptions had been checked as compared with the 

 ratio of preceding years ; and the decrease which for many years existed at the garden 

 gates up to 1847 was not only determined, but the receipts were rapidly rising, and 

 exhibited such a tendency to advance as more than counterbalances the decrease on 

 the other heads of income. The recent liberal expenditure in buildings and the pur- 

 chase of animals had not only been rewarded by the re-establishment of the celebrity 

 of the collection, as the finest public vivarium in Europe, but had enabled the Council 

 to create a considerable source of income in the disposal of duplicates — the most 

 desirable specimens being invariably preserved for the menageries. The memorial to 

 the Commissioners of Woods and Forests had met with attention, and the rent of 

 the gardens is reduced to £337, whereby a saving of £167 per annum is effected. 

 The comparison of expenditure with income is, however, still unfavourable, if the out- 

 lay on new buildings was not considered rather as a change of investment than ex- 

 penditure — that expenditure having brought the establishment to a state of efficiency 

 and attractiveness which the Council believe will obviate for a considerable time the 

 necessity of further building operations beyond the works now in progress. The 

 buildings completed during 1849 were of the most important kind for the preserva- 

 tion of the collection, and in their advantages far exceeding the value of the annual 

 dividend hitherto received on the capital employed. The ordinary expenditure of 

 the Society might be taken at about £8,500 ; and there is, therefore, every proba- 

 bility that the increasing income of the Society will produce a surplus sufficient for 

 all the purposes of a reserve. During the past year the additions to the museum of 

 mounted specimens had been limited to such rare species as had died in the mena- 

 gerie, and were not previously represented in the museum. Many duplicates had 

 been presented to provincial institutions at Norwich, Ipswich, Dover, Worcester, &c. ; 

 and some valuable presents had been received from different individuals. Although 

 no important additions have been made to the library by purchase, several desirable 

 and valuable works had been added by donations, and by exchange for the publica- 

 tions of the Society from a variety of scientific institutions at Paris, Munich, Breslau, 

 Gottingen, Philadelphia, Berlin, Stockholm, Van Diemen's Land, many distinguished 

 scientific bodies in England, Ireland, and Scotland, &c, as well as from authors. 

 The principal buildings executed during the past year have been a continuation of 

 the new aviary, the house for reptiles, a large enclosure for grallatorial birds, the 

 erection of a wing at the west end, and the commencement of one at the east end of 

 the giraffe house, and the putting into repair other buildings connected with the 

 gardens. In the gardener's department the Council had received various donations 

 from the Horticultural Society, his Grace the Archbishop of Dublin, and other 

 friends, and constant attention had been paid to keeping it in order. With regard 

 to the menagerie, the Council had made great progress, and had been fortunate in 

 obtainig the support of many additional correspondents. The collections of valuable 

 animals presented by the late Pasha of Egypt and by the governor of Singapore, 

 having been safely brought to this country about the same time, the menagerie might 

 be considered as having reached its highest point of value in July last ; and it was 

 worthy of remark that the number of visitors in that month far exceeded the average 



