262 The Progress of Zoology. 



increasing the necessities and comforts of life by an utilization 

 of acquired knowledge. The Zoological Society has done so 

 much in the way of acclimatizing animals suited to vary the 

 supplies of our tables, that we look to it for something more : 

 the contribution, for instance, of a few new dishes, for it begins 

 to be a discredit to us that, having laid the world under tribute 

 for its animal products, our staple animal foods should still 

 comprise so small a round as beef, mutton, and pork, varied 

 only by inversion to pork, and mutton, and beef. The kanga- 

 roo, which affords the choicest of all dishes to the Australian 

 squatter, has been found to prosper in English parks, and is 

 remarkably prolific and manageable. ■ We may some day see 

 herds of elands among the pasture stocks, for it is now 

 thoroughly acclimatized at Hawkstone and Taymouth; but 

 there are numerous antelopes, Himalayan partridges, and 

 species of Ovis and Ca/prea that prosper in this climate, and 

 might become permanent additions both bo our fauna and our 

 food resources. The nilgai, the largest of the Asiatic ante- 

 lopes, breeds freely in the Society's garden, and produces two 

 fawns at a litter". The Sambur deer (Bus a aristotelis) is proved 

 to be as hardy in England as any of our domestic cattle. The 

 Persian deer (Gervus Wallichii) promises to become permanently 

 established. The Barbary deer (0. barbarus) is bred by Vis- 

 count Hill, at Hawkstone, and has been seen in England in the 

 form of meat. The pretty Ceylonese deer (Hyela/phus jporom/us) 

 breeds readily in confinement, and might be distributed for 

 fancy culture as a household pet, and to vary the round of 

 comestibles on festive occasions ; and the magnificent species of 

 wild sheep from Northern India and Tartary thrive so well 

 in this country, that breeders might take note of them as 

 offering the materials for new crosses with our domestic breeds, 

 to stimulate with fresh vigour the future races of British sheep. 

 It is odd that among nearly ninety species of antelopes now 

 known, there is not one available for the purposes of the 

 butcher. The ravages of pleuropneumonia and rot among 

 cattle and sheep in this country, entail losses which, if the aver- 

 age annual aggregate were stated, would appear fabulous, afford, 

 at least, one good reason for a bolder policy in the applications 

 of zoological science. It would be a good beginning in such a 

 desirable undertaking if the Zoological Society were to follow 

 the example of the Horticultural, and appoint committees to 

 cook and eat a few selected specimens occasionally, and having 

 reported thereon, to arrange for the distribution of animals in 

 pairs for peopling the parks and meadows, and, if possible, the 

 paddocks, and waysides, and commons of Britain. 



"We remarked above that the literature of science is of late 

 years distinguished by the number and value of monographs. We 



