25 
successful introduction of the Angora goats, which had increased in 
numbers from sixty to one hundred aud eighty, was more than a 
compensation for the loss of the Cashmere goats. That loss, however, 
did not fall entirely upon the Society, for one public spirited gentle¬ 
man, Mr. M'Cullough, of Maryborough, had contributed no less than 
,£300 towards the introduction of these goats. So in the case of the 
alpacas, the loss fell not on the Society, but upon Mr. Duffield, who 
introduced them. He also wished to mention that the former pre¬ 
sident of the Society, Mr. Edward Wilson, had been presented with 
the gold medal of the Acclimatisation Society of France, as having 
used the greatest efforts in the cause of acclimatisation. He urged 
the members of the Society not to rest satisfied until the rivers mire 
filled with fish, and the country teemed with animals introduced from 
other countries. 
The adoption of the report was seconded by Mr. G. S. Lang aud 
carried unanimously. 
Professor M‘Cov thought there was much to encourage the 
society to further extend its operations. The old idea that the con¬ 
struction of the various animals was exactly in accordance with the 
. external conditions of the countries to which they belonged was in¬ 
correct, or only partially correct. For when distant regions of the 
earth, separated from each other by seas or such other physical fea¬ 
tures as prevented the animals inhabiting each from passing to the 
others, yet agreeing in latitude, climate, general conditions respect¬ 
ing the food of the creatures, &c.; when such regions were ex¬ 
amined they w T ero found to be inhabited by not the same animals, 
but generally representative types ■ varying in many respects, but 
performing the same functions in the general economy of nature • 
and generally speaking all those representative types would thrive 
and flourish in the countries the natural inhabitants of which they 
represented as well as in their own, and often even better than 
tlio native animals of the new district into which they might bo 
introduced artificially by man. Of all countries in the world 
Australia offered the greatest field for the beneficial and successful 
efforts of an Acclimitisation Society, for none other of such extent 
was so scantily furnished by nature with species fit for food and so 
fortunately free from formidable beasts of prey to destroy them or 
prevent their increase when introduced by man. He thought it 
quite practicable to introduce all the numerous species of antelopes 
the herds of which crowd the edges of tho deserts, the scantily 
grassed plains, and occasionally richer valleys of South Africa into 
the so-called desert, or really varied unsettled interior of the Aus- 
