50 FANCIERS’ 
JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 

and for the introduction and acclimatization of subjects of the 
animal kingdom. By the charter, granted March 27, 1829, 
Henry, Marquis of Lansdowne, George, Lord Auckland, 
Charles Baring Wall, Joseph Sabine, and Nicholas Aylward 
Vigors, Esqs., were created the first fellows. These gentle- 
men were empowered to admit such other persons to be 
fellows, honorary members, foreign members, and corres- 
ponding members as they might think fit, and to appoint 
twenty-one of the fellows to be the council, which should 
manage the entire affairs of the Society and elect members 
thereof until the 29th of May following; at which time and 
annually thereafter the Society should hold a meeting, and 
by ballot remove five of this council, and elect five others in 
their place, being fellows of the Society, who, with those 
remaining, should constitute the council for the ensuing year. 
It will thus be seen that every year five of the council are 
voted out, and five others elected in their stead, thus retain- 
ing a large proportion of managers acquainted with the work- | 
ings of the organization. 
By the by-laws fellows are required to pay twenty-five 
dollars initiation fee and fifteen dollars per annum, or one 
hundred and fifty dollars at once in lieu of such dues. An- 
nual subscribers pay the same amount yearly, but no initia- 
tion fee, and they are not permitted to vote at elections. 
Ladies are admitted as fellows upon the same terms and 
with the same privileges; with the addition, however, that 
they are allowed to vote by proxy. 
Fellows have personal admission to the Gardens, with 
two companions, daily, and receive orders, to be signed by 
them, admitting two persons on each Saturday and Sunday 
in the year. They are also entitled to twenty free tickets 
of admission. Sundays are set apart specially for fellow- 
and their friends, the general public not being admitted. 
The Society has business and scientific meetings—the lat- 
ter monthly—and these are very largely attended and of the 
most interesting character. New and remarkable subjects 
of zoology are exhibited, papers and communications on an- 
imal physiology and zoology are read, and animated discus- 
sions carried on. An abstract of the proceedings is regu- 
larly forwarded to the scientific journals and newspapers. 
The Society also publishes a large variety of zoological mat- 
ter, which is furnished to fellows at one-fourth less than the 
price to strangers. Every addition to the collection of the 
Society has its picture taken upon its entrance, and very 
handsome colored plates of those which are rare or curious 
are inserted in these publications. The sales from this 
source realized last year over thirty-seven hundred dollars. 
In 1871 the income of the Society was $123,101, of which 
$69,000 were from admissions to the Gardens, $9507 from 
Garden sales and rent of refreshment rooms, $3750 from the 
Society’s publications, and $39,415 from dues of fellows and 
annual subscribers. The expenses for the same year were 
$106,840, the principal items being—salaries, wages and 
pensions, $21,790; cost and carriage of animals, $10,560; 
provisions, $20,480; menagerie expenses, $10,480; Garden 
expenses, $3465. The annual income has so much exceeded 
the expenses during the last ten years that the Society has 
been able to devote over two hundred and thirty thousand 
dollars of such surplus to the permanent embellishment of 
its Gardens, and still retain some fifty thousand dollars as a 
reserve fund. 
In the collection of the Society are 590 quadrupeds, 1227 
birds and 255 reptiles—altogether 2072. The quantity and 
various kinds of food—the knowledge of the tastes and ne- 

cessities of the animals—the temperature, ventilation, habi- 
tations and so on of sucha large assortment of different 
species—necessitate the employment of trained and skilful 
servants and scientific officers. It has been seen that the 
provisions and menagerie expenses alone exceed $30,000, 
and it must be remembered that the most difficult part, 
the brain-work, the knowledge—without which the whole 
would be a failure—is furnished the Society by its council 
entirely free. 
The collection of living animals is the finest in existence, 
and is daily increasing. Scattered everywhere are its cor- 
responding members, keeping it advised of every opportu- 
nity to augment its stores. Its agents have penetrated and 
are still exploring the desert and the jungle, braving the 
heats of the equator, and the terrible winters of the ice-bound 
regions of the globe, to furnish every possible link in the 
grand procession of organized life. 
A large proportion of the most wonderful and valuable 
part of the collection has been presented by crowned heads 
and governors of different countries, British consuls, other 
zoological societies, British naval and military officers sta- 
tioned in foreign ports and posts, Englishmen of wealth and 
travelers. The donations to the Society for the year 1872 
would alone be sufficient to establish a Garden at Fairmount 
Park which would be the finest in America. They amounted 
to over five hundred in number, and include almost every 
description of animal, from a tiger to a monkey, and from 
an imperial eagle toa humming bird. With our present 
connection by rail and steamer with the Hast and West In- 
dies, and other distant regions, let it only be generally 
known that a Zoological Garden now exists in Philadelphia, 
and it will receive contributions from all parts of the world. 
The Philadelphia society has already had numerous offers of 
animals, birds and reptiles, and the promise of any number 
for the mere cost of transportation. The officers of the 
Smithsonian Institution at Washington have expressed their 
willingness and desire to hand over to any proper associa- 
tion the many curious animals constantly offered it. The 
societies of Kurope, many of whose managers have been in 
communication with the one started here, are extremely 
anxious that a collection of American animals, birds, rep- 
tiles and fishes shall be made. It will be wholly unique, 
and will attract zoologists from every part of the world, 
permitting them, for the first time, to study the habits of 
many new species. This continent has a wealth of subjects 
of the animal kingdom as yet almost unexplored. The birds 
are absolutely innumerable, and the immense rivers pro- 
duce fishes of the most marvelous character and but little 
known. In the Berlin Garden, rapidly becoming a rival 
to the one in London, one of the greatest attractions, if not 
the chief, is the American beaver; an assemblage of a num- 
ber of these on the banks of the Schuylkill, giving an op- 
portunity of witnessing their astonishing sagacity, would of 
itself be an attractive exhibition. 
The Zoological Society of Philadelphia was incorporated 
by Act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, approved March 
21, 1859. The site selected at that time, and approved by 
City Councils, was five acres of the extreme south eastern 
corner of the then Park, consisting of Sedgeley and Lemon 
Hill, and containing about two hundred acres. A meeting 
of certain prominent and influential citizens interested in 
the subject was held, and the matter carefully discussed. 
At subsequent meetings a constitution and by-laws were 
