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Irish Societies. 



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bomc inlt'iiial injury wlu n, one night in October, it broke llnoir^U the par- 

 tition bctAvccn its own pond and the Beavers' enclosure, climbed over the 

 three -foot raihng around the latter, and disported its(>lf for some hours 

 in the lake, where it caught and partly de\ oured a lari^e Pike. 



An especially noteworthy addition to the collection of Rodents is a male 

 Ingraham's Hutia {Capromys Ivgrahanii) from the Bahamas, kindly 

 given by Dr. Edwin Bate. The Hutias arc shy, tree -haunting beasts, 

 very rarely seen in menageries ; found only in the West Indies, their 

 nearest relations are the well-known South American Coypus, of which an 

 example may always be seen in the Gardens. 



By the death of the Anoa — the peculiar Cclcbean Antelope — the 

 collection has lost one of its most interesting bovines. In the autumn the 

 Duke of Bedford generously offered to the Society a pair of Elands and a 

 Gnu from his famous collection at Woburn. The Council has gratefully 

 accepted this gift, but, owing to two outbreaks of cattle disease in the 

 English Midlands, it has not yet been possible to arrange for the shipment 

 of the animals to Ireland ; it is hoped that they will be imported early 

 in the new year. 



The large and attractive collection of Birds has been well maintained, 

 noteworthy additions being a pair of Scarlet Ibis given by Mr. J. Nugent 

 Lentaigne, and a Sandgrouse given by Mr. H. B. Rathborne. Among the 

 Reptiles the death of one New Zealand Tuatera leaves onl}" a single survivor 

 of that highly interesting ancient t3^pe in the Gardens. 



It is gratifying to record a second season's successful work at the Fish 

 Hatchery. From the Irish Fisheries Office 10,000 Brown Trout and 

 60,000 Salmon eggs were received in January ; these were supplemented 

 b}^ a generous gift of 20,000 Brown Trout eggs from Col. Claude Cane. 

 At the end of the hatching season 45,000 Salmon and 22,000 Trout fry were 

 handed over to the Riparian Owners of the Liffey. Later in the year 

 some of the Hatchery boxes were used for rearing larval Axolotls. 



Except a few necessary repairs no construction -work has been under- 

 taken during the 3^ear beyond the provision of a range of open-air cages 

 to the Monkey-House and the re-modelling of the adjacent indoor cages, 

 as described in the last Report. The work has been satisfactorily carried 

 out, and a number of the smaller carnivores — Civets, Genets, Racoons, 

 &c. — are now well housed in the outside cages. The opportunit}' has been 

 taken to improve greatly the access to the Anthropoid cages by providing 

 a passage -room on the west side in addition to the Keeper's room on the 

 east side already provided. 



^rom several admirable sets of photographs received for the 3'early 

 competition in animal portraiture the Council had no hesitation in selecting 

 for the award of the Silver Medal the work of Mr. J. Manby, of Dublin. 

 The sets submitted by Mr. S. Sarns, of London, and Mr. A. ]\IacCallum, 

 of Dublin, were also very good, so that special Bronze Medals were awarded 

 to them. 



The subjects chosen by Mr. Manby are the four types of Anthropoid 

 now on view in the Monkey-House. His beautiful pictures will serve, 

 therefore, as a permanent record of a noteworthy achievement in the 

 activities of the Society. 



