9 
With respect to the future, the Council begs to inform the Sub¬ 
scribers that it is intended to pay special attention to the 
Angora goat and to the ostrich, for the purchase of which bird 
£200 has already been remitted.* 
The Council having endeavoured for some time past to increase the 
supply of fish as an article of food, it was suggested by the President 
that advantage should be taken of the construction of the reservoirs 
throughout the colony to ask the Government to place these reservoirs 
under the charge of the Society, giving it the exclusive right of 
stocking them with fish. This suggestion having been approved of 
by the Council, an interview was had with the Minister of Mines 
upon the subject, and the Government has assented to the request 
of the Council. 
In order to be able efficiently to carry out this important work, it 
is intended to erect a piscicultural establishment at the Eoyal Park, 
whence the fry of the various fish when hatched can be easily 
distributed to the reservoirs throughout the colony. 
Hitherto the Council has, in accordance with the roles of the 
Society, devoted its energies entirely to acclimatisation, to the 
exclusion of the purely zoological; but as so much has been now 
done in the introduction of useful animals, and as visitors to the 
gardens frequently express a desire to see a greater variety of 
quadrupeds, birds, Ac., it has been suggested that a portion of the 
funds of the Society should bo expended in commencing the forma¬ 
tion of a Zoological Garden. It is not contemplated that the 
Society should in any way relax its efforts in the cause of acclima¬ 
tisation, but it is thought that as there is no zoological collection in 
the colony, the formation of one in the Eoyal Park will prove a 
great source of attraction to the inhabitants of Melbourne, and 
contribute also to the instruction and amusement of the rising 
generation, while the machinery of the Society is well adapted to 
undertake the work with but a trifling addition to its ordinary 
expenditure, in the same way as the two objects have been so suc¬ 
cessfully carried out by the Zoological Society of London. 
For the purpose of testing the wishes of the subscribers on this 
point, an alteration in the rules of the Society will be submitted for 
your consideration. 
P>efore concluding this report the Council wishes to refer to 
some of the more prominent results of the Society’s labours during 
the five years that it has now been in existence. 
* Since the date of this report four very fine ostriches have been received. 
