Zoological Society. 2833 



number of the last ten years. The Council had the satisfaction of announcing that 

 H. H. Abbas Pasha had presented to the Society a hippopotamus, which he had con- 

 signed to the care of the Hon. C. A. Murray, who, in a recent dispatch, had described 

 him as in good health, and as " tame and playful as a Newfoundland puppy.'' This 

 animal might be expected to arrive in the course of next month, and could not fail to 

 excite the most lively interest, no example having been seen in Europe since the de- 

 cline of the Koman Empire. Mr. Duncan, the celebrated African traveller, Her 

 Majesty's Vice-Consul at Whydah, wrote under date of September 14, to say that the 

 King of Dahomey had promised to obtain him a young elephant and other valuable 

 animals, but, unfortunately, owing to the sudden death of Mr. Duncan, the prospect 

 thus opened was in abeyance, although no doubt the king would keep his promise to 

 any future consul. The Council congratulated the Fellows on the interest which 

 Her Majesty and Prince Albert had taken in the progress of the Society, of which 

 they had obtained a knowledge by personal inspection ; and which Her Majesty had 

 evinced by presenting to the Society the principal portion of a present received from 

 the Emperor of Morocco, consisting of a lioness, leopard, two ostriches, and two ga- 

 zelles. During the past year the female aurochs and three bisons were carried off by 

 pleuropneumonia, the scourge of horned cattle. The rhinoceros and African buffalo 

 had also died, but as the former had been upwards of fifteen years in the menagerie, 

 and the latter nearly as long, their longevity, rather tban their decease, was to be re- 

 marked on. The health of the collection generally is attested by the beautiful con- 

 dition, and by the numerous list of species which have bred in the gardens. The 

 Council had great pleasure in announcing that, notwithstanding the long list pub- 

 lished in 1848 and 1849, the Society had been able to obtain upwards of seventy new 

 species, exhibited for the first time during the past year. The total number of visitors 

 to the gardens in 1849 was 168,895 ; of these 33,99S were privileged, and 134,897 

 unprivileged, of whom upwards of 72,000 were admitted on Mondays. 



After a short conversation, in which it was stated that the gardens would be opened 

 to the public at the reduced price of sixpence throughout Whitsun week, except on 

 Saturday, and that the band would play in the gardens on Saturdays during the 

 months of June and July, — the report was adopted, and a vote of thanks given to the 

 chairman for his exertions in obtaining a reduction of the rent. 



Monthly General Meeting, May 2. — Sir G. Clerk, Bt., V.P., in the chair. 



Samuel Gurney, Jun., Esq., and John Ingram Travers, Esq., were elected 

 fellows. 



W. H. Twentyman, Esq., Edward Lomax, Esq., and Dr. George Fripp, were pro- 

 posed as candidates for the Fellowship. 



The Eeport of the Council stated that the number of visitors to the gardens in 

 April was 11,314, and that the receipts at the gate had only once been exceeded in 

 the same month, during the last fifteen years. Among the additions to the menagerie 

 are two specimens of Phacochcerus Africanus, the great African Wart-Hog, which 

 will now be exhibited for the first time in this country. — D. W. M. 



