26 
that, in attempting to address you at all, I should confine myself to a 
few preliminary observations on some of the points which have occur¬ 
red to me in attending the meetings of the council, and which have 
also been pressed upon my miud by comments that I have heard 
out of doors. In the first place, I would say, that I dd not think 
the public as yet quite correctly understand what an Acclimatisation 
Society is. In saying this, I do not refer so much to the proper defi¬ 
nition of the word—as to whether animals and plants can, in fact, 
adapt themselves to climates unsuited to them, or as to whether 
those animals and plants that are introduced into countries where 
they have not existed before, but where the climate is perfectly 
suited to them, can be said to be acclimatised ; or whether the word 
should not be “ acclimated,” or “ naturalised.” These are matters 
which I leave to the learned. Perhaps we shall hear something about 
them from Professor M‘Coy. All that I meant to say is, that I 
don’t think it is generally borne in mind by the public, or even by 
the press, that the design of this Society is to stock the country 
with useful animals rather than to form a Zoological Garden.— 
(Hear, hear.) People visit the Royal Park, and come away, if not 
complaining, at any rate hinting that they have been rather disap¬ 
pointed, at the want of variety among the collection they have found 
there—that there are great deficiencies among the carnivora —that 
even the Australian animals are not properly represented, as they 
ought to be in an Australian colony ; forgetful all the while that we 
do not aim at setting up a wild beast show, or even at elucidating 
the natural history of the Australian continent. No doubt a Zoolo¬ 
gical Garden is a very excellent thing in its way. It is exceedingly in¬ 
teresting to the rising generation, and very instructive to the student 
of natural history. The Acclimatisation Society will be happy, by- 
and-by, to add that to its other attractions. But a Zoological Garden 
is necessarily a very expensive affair. Lions and tigers, unfortunately, 
eat very voraciously. (Laughter.) And you require either a large 
Government subsidy or a very high price for admission to meet the 
expenses of such an institution, especially in this country. Now as 
you are all aware, the admission at the Royal Park is free, and the 
Society finds that the fund derived from subscriptions and from Par¬ 
liament is altogether inadequate to carry out even its legitimate 
objects. These objects, 1 need hardly tell you, are to introduce 
animals not hurtful to man, but, on the contrary, those that are use¬ 
ful and agreeable to him. Of course even that definition admits a 
wide category of animals. It is difficult to draw the line as to what 
is useful, and still more as to what is agreeable to man ; and it often 
