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card.-A letter was read from Mr. W. Alford Lloyd, describing the new Aquarium House lately erected in the Zoological Society's Gardens at Hamburgh, and the improved system of management of Aquaria pursued in that establishment.-Two communications were read from Dr. W. Peters, For. Mem. The first of these related to the species of Mammals collected by Dr. Welwitsch during his recent travels in Angola. The second consisted of some notes on the Indian Rodent, described by Mr. Blyth as Platacanthomys lasiurus, which, Dr. Peters was of opinion, had nothing to do with the Dormice (Myoxine), but appertained strictly to the Murine family, being nearly allied in many respects to Phlaomys and Meriones.-A communication was read from Dr. J. V. Barboza du Bocage, For. Memb., containing notes on some rare and little known Mammals from Angola, of which specimens had lately been received by the National Museum of Lisbon.-A letter was also read from Mr. E. L. Layard, Cape Town, Corresponding Member, describing a new species of Zebra, discovered by Mr. James Chapman in the interior of South-Western Africa, about 200 miles from Walwich Bay, which Mr. Layard proposed to call Equus Chapmanni.-Dr. J. E. Gray made some further observations on the Whale, which he had lately proposed to name Macleayius australiensis.—A paper was read by Messrs. A. R. Wallace and H. Adams on the Land Shells, collected by Mr. Wallace in the Malay Archipelago. This list, which enumerated 125 species, 50 of which had been first obtained by Mr. Wallace, had been drawn up principally with a view of recording the exact localities of each species, and thus furnishing materials towards a more accurate knowledge of their geographical distribution.

April 29th, 1865.

Anniversary Meeting.-The Right Hon. Sir George Clerk, Bart., President, in the chair. The usual preliminaries having been transacted, the report of the Auditors was read and adopted by the meeting. The report of the Council was then read by Dr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., the Secretary of the Society. It stated that the number of Fellows, Fellows-elect, and annual subscribers of the Society on that day, amounted to 1955, showing an increase of 201 members since the last anniversary. During the year 1864 no less than 264 new Fellows and annual subscribers had been elected, a greater number than had joined the Society in any one single year for the previous twenty-eight years. Seventeen corresponding

members and two foreign members had also been elected since the previous anniversary. The report then proceeded to state that the Council had again the pleasure of reporting a considerable increase in the income of the Society. The income of the year 1863 had amounted to £20,284. 12s 11d, a sum unexampled except in the two Exhibition years; but the income of the past year had exceeded that sum by £1429, the total receipts for 1864 having amounted to £21,713. 13s 10d. This increase was due to the augmentation of nearly all the principal sources of receipt, amongst which that of admission to the gardens and annual subscriptions (resulting from the increased number of members) were the most noticeable. The number of visitors to the Society's Gardens had also largely increased during the year 1864, the entrances having amounted to no less than 507,169, a number which placed the year 1864 as exhibiting a more favourable aspect, in this point of view, than any of the preceding years, except the two Exhibition years. After adding to the income of 1864 the sum of £2,043. 10s 6d, being the balance carried forward from the previous year, and the sum of £2677. 10s, being the proceeds arising from the sale of £3000. Reduced 3 per Cents., there remained a total sum of £26434. 148 4d available for the expenditure of the year 1864. The ordinary expenditure of the Society paid during the year 1864, under which head had been placed every item necessary to keep the Society's establishment in a perfect state of efficiency, had been 17,207.10s 7d. The extraordinary expenditure paid during the same period had amounted to £7,681. 12s 9d, making a total expenditure of £24,889. 3s 4d, and leaving a balance in the banker's hands, at the end of the year, of £1,514. 98 6d. The report then stated that the reserve fund of the Society invested in Three per Cents. Reduced amounted to £10,000., and that while the Council had no intention of diminishing this reserve fund, they did not think it necessary or even desirable to increase it beyond that amount; that the cash assets of the Society, on the 31st of December, 1864, had amounted to £10,900. 12s 4d, and that liabilities at the same period had been estimated at £3434. 17s 7d, leaving a balance in favour of the Society of £8,871. 168 6d; that the sum of £403. 8s had been devoted to expenses connected with the Society's library during the past year. The Council had resolved on fitting up the upper portion of the Old Museum building in the Society's Gardens as a gallery for the exhibition of the Society's collection of water-colour drawings by

N.H.R.-1865.

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Mr. J. Wolf, during the summer months of the present year. The report then proceeded to speak of the Society's Gardens in the Regent's-park, and stated, in reference to them, that the new entrance lodges, aviary, and monkey-houses, concerning which full details and explanations had been offered to the Society in the last annual report, had been all completed and brought into perfect order during the course of last year. That as regards the latter building, the new monkey-house, which was only brought into full working order during the latter part of last summer, the Council could not refrain from congratulating the Society upon the very important amelioration that had been thus effected in what had been heretofore one of the most defective parts of their garden establishment. That this building had not only proved most attractive to the public, but that also as regards the health and welfare of the animals to the use of which it was devoted there could be no question that it had likewise proved an entire success. In striking contrast to the constant mortality that had prevailed in the old monkey-house, the deaths among the quadrumana during the late long and severe winter had been very few, and the greater number of them had remained in an excellent state of health. The cost of the erection of the new monkey-house had been £3382. 18s 3d, and a further sum of £1459. 78 3d had been spent in fittings and works connected with it. The most important event connected with the Society's menagerie that had occurred since the last anniversary had been the successful mission of Mr. Thompson to India. Several of the Society's corresponding members in India having announced that they had collections waiting for transmission to the Society (amongst which were a pair of young Rhinoceroses and other valuable animals), the Council had determined on sending out to Calcutta, to receive and bring back those proffered donations, Mr. James Thompson, the Society's head-keeper, who had previously made the same journey with such signal success on the occasion of the introduction of the Himalayan pheasants in 1858. Mr. Thompson had arrived in the Thames on July 28, 1861, bringing with him a very fine series of animals, amongst which might be specified two rhinoceroses, one rhinoceros hornbill, two concave hornbills, three green-necked peafowl, three lineated pheasants, two rufous-tailed pheasants, and other valuable animals. The total cost of Mr. Thompson's expedi tion had amounted to £808., whilst the lowest estimate that could be set upon the value of the collection thus acquired amounted to

£1516. The animals exhibited for the first time during the year 1864 comprised eight mammals, twenty-three birds, two reptiles, and two fishes. Amongst these particular notice was directed to the orange-quilled porcupine (Hystrix malabarica), a new and very interesting addition to this group (for which the Society were indebted to their corresponding member, his Excellency Sir William Denison, Governor of Madras), and to the Didunculus strigirostris, or Toothbilled Pigeon of the Samoan Islands in the Pacific, perhaps the rarest specimen ever exhibited alive in the Society's menagerie, as it had been supposed until recently to be quite extinct. For the latter the Society were indebted to their indefatigable correspondent, Dr. George Bennett, of Sydney, who had made so many valuable donations to the menagerie. The report then gave a list of animals which had bred in the Gardens of the Zoological Society between the 1st of January, 1864, and the 1st of January, 1865, amongst which were twenty-two species of mammals, twenty species of birds, one reptile, and three fishes; and also an alphabetically-arranged list of donors, and of their several donations to the menagerie during the year 1864. The Council anticipate that the yearly income of the Society is likely to reach the amount of £20,000. Allowing £17,000. for the ordinary expenses of the present large establish ment, a surplus of £3,000. remained, which might be devoted to extraordinary works, without intrenching on the Society's reserve fund. At the same time, the roll of the members of the Society seemed likely to attain a considerable increase, showing that the objects of the Society and the state of its affairs were generally approved of, while the numerous visitors to the Gardens, particularly on Mondays and holidays, showed the interest taken in the Society's collection by the public at large. The Council's report having been received and adopted, the meeting proceeded to elect the new members of the Council for the year. The ballot having been taken, the following five Fellows of the Society were elected into the Council, in place of five others removed therefrom: the Right Hon. Viscount Bury, M.P., Mr. Charles Buxton, M.P., Mr. J. Travers Smith, Mr. R. H. Vyvyan, and Mr. G. R. Waterhouse. The ballot for the officers resulted in the election of the Right Hon. Sir George Clerk, Bart., as President, Dr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., &c., as Secretary, and R. Drummond, Esq., as Treasurer, for the ensuing year.

XXXVII.-MISCELLANEA.

1. DR. W. PETERS ON Cholapus Hoffmanni.

A SERIOUS error occurred in the notice of Dr. Peters' recent discovery of the abnormal number of the cervical vertebræ in this animal in our last number. Linnæus, in the last edition of his Systema Natura, associated the Walrus and the Manatee together in one genus, calling the former Trichecus rosmarus and the latter Trichecus manatus. By modern systematists the term Trichecus is usually retained for the Walrus, and the Manatee is called Manatus, after Cuvier. Dr. Peters, however, following what is, perhaps, a more correct usage, calls the Manatee Trichecus, and uses Illiger's name, “ Odobonus," for the Walrus. In translating Dr. Peters' note, referred to above, this was unfortunately overlooked, and the Walrus, instead of the Manatee, was stated to have one cervical vertebra less than the ordinary number.

2. DEATH OF DR. THOMAS B. WILSON.

Our brother naturalists in America have lately sustained a severe loss in the death of Dr. Thomas B. Wilson, of Newark, Delaware, President of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, which occurred on the 15th of March last. Although Dr. Wilson never distinguished himself by his writings, he was, as many of our friends are aware, one of the most judicious and liberal patrons of Zoological science that has ever lived. The Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, which rivals, and in some points surpasses, those of the principal cities of Europe, was brought to its present condition mainly by the munificent and unparalleled contributions of this generous benefactor. For many years Dr. Wilson was in the habit of making constant visits to Europe, and of purchasing, by himself or his agents, all the most rare and costly objects of Natural History that came from time to time into the market. Amongst other acquisitions thus made was the whole of Mr. Gould's collection of Australian birds, containing the originals of the figures given in that naturalist's great work on the Ornithology of Australia; Mr. O. Des Mur's unique series of birds-eggs; and the vast collection of Natural History formed by the late Prince Massena, These and many other similar objects were all purchased by Dr. Wilson, and transferred to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia free of expense. Further, the magnificent library attached

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