REPORT. 
ID 
rank next to these ; and the Society possesses only 23 speci¬ 
mens of Fishes, and 28 of Reptiles. The number of Birds 
in its cases amounts to 146, of which 103 are natives of 
this country; and out of 300 British species, about 60 are 
thus illustrated. 
In reference to some of these objects of Zoological interest, 
the Council cannot refrain from remarking, that there is a 
circumstance observable in the Catalogue of Donations, 
which they should hope to find hereafter of more frequent 
occurrence. The amusements of the Sportsman and the 
Angler have, in several instances, contributed to enrich the 
Museurh with useful specimens ; and persons not professing 
much knowledge of Natural History, have thus rendered 
it an essential service, at no expense to themselves. 
In giving a general list of desiderata, it is by no means 
intended to intimate, that Contributions of another class 
will not be acceptable; and still less to complain, in any 
degree, of the support which the Institution has received. 
It is not surprising, that in a Museum which has been only 
a few years established, there should be great deficiencies ; 
the wonder is, that it should already, in some degree, embrace 
every part of the range of natural science; that it should 
already number in its catalogues twenty thousand spe¬ 
cimens collected from the land and the water. The accumu¬ 
lation, in so short a time, of such a multitude of the materials 
of instruction, is highly honourable both to the Society and 
to the County : it fully answers the sanguine hopes with 
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