Letter from John Humphrys regarding the identification of shells he had though of as Indian origin, and a discussion about his collection
Letter from R Leyland referring to the publication of Curtis and Stevens on British Insects. He says he may be able to send some insects not very common in the south. Also includes a list of genera 'which would be acceptable here'
Notes and memos including a Report of the Council and Report of the Auditors of the Zoological Society of London read at the Anniversary Meeting, a meeting of naturalists at the British Museum, extracts from letters to Mr Owen, and Edward Turner Bennett's account of Macropus Parryi
List of skeletons held in the Museum, whence obtained and observations
Letters from John Gould regarding a Zebra that was exhibiting signs of tetanus, the request of a salary of £50 for the new arrangement by the Museum Committee, an expedition to collect specimens for the Zoological Society of London and several gifts to the Society
Letter from M Swainson regarding the collection of fish purchased from the Zoological Society of London from the museum of Mr Guilding
Day by day account of work in the ZSL Museum. Divided into Accessions, Anatomy, Preserving Department, Museum, Stores. Written by the Superintendent of the Museum, William Martin. Occasional entries by John Gilbert. Also mentions the work of Alexander Chambers, John Gould and Richard Owen.
Letter from Hugh Cuming to Edward Turner Bennett, apologising for being unable to meet him with a portion of his shells
It was proposed in the setting up of ZSL that there would be a museum for zoological specimens, and items began being collected c.1827 including a collection of Sumatran specimens donated by Lady Sophia Raffles, widow of ZSL founder Sir Stamford Raffles. The museum was housed firstly within our office building at 33 Bruton Street in central London, and charged entry for people to visit. Many specimens were donated by fellows, John Gould donated his collection of Himalayan birds in 1831 to the museum, for example. The museum proved very popular, and grew at such a rate that it was one of the reasons for moving office to Leicester square. It was decided that the Society either needed to purchase a dedicated building for it - or to disperse the collection. ZSL Council chose the latter, and by 1855 the collection had been dispersed to various other collections including the British Museum (Natural History) and Norwich Museum.
Zoological Society of London