6 
Mr Albert Le Souef, tbe Hon. Secretary, read tlie Annual 
Report of the Council, which was as follows : — 
The Council of the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria have 
now the honor to lay the Eighth Annual Report of their pro- 
ceedings before the subscribers, and they also beg to submit a 
revision of the Rules of the Society for approval and confir- 
mation. The principal alterations in the rules are that the 
President, Vice-Presidents, and Honorary Treasurer, will hence- 
forth be elected by ballot at the annual general meeting, and 
that the yearly subscription of members will be reduced from 
two guineas to one. 
The Council are of opinion that the progress of the Society 
will be promoted by a change in the tenure of these offices, and 
that the yearly election of a President, Vice-Presidents, and 
Honorary Treasurer, from amongst the Members of the Council, 
will not only be the means of bringing fresh energy and new 
ideas to assist in the Society’s work, but also an additional 
^ incentive to Members of Council to exertion in the cause of 
acclimatisation. At the same time the Council would express 
their warm appreciation of the manner in which the gentlemen 
who have filled these offices hitherto have performed their 
functions. 
The latter alteration it is hoped will tend to popularise the 
Society, by largely increasing the number of its subscribers. 
The Council think that Melbourne, from its size and importance, 
ought to number amongst its attractions a good zoological 
collection ; and, if supported in this view by the public, they 
propose, in the first instance, to form as complete a collection as 
possible of the Pauna of Australasia, and, hereafter, when in a 
position to do so, to add those of other countries ; but the 
Council are aware that it is only by the aid of a comparatively 
large body of subscribers that their wishes and intentions can be 
carried into effect, as zoological collections are expensive to 
maintain. The animals and birds already in the Society’s 
