26 



if the Biological Society of 



■£> 



has recently been established, holding its first meeting on Jan. 

 4th, when papers were read by Professors Burgess, Knowlton, 

 Tracy and Miss Southworth. Mr Crozier is Secretary. We wish 

 the new organization success and permanence. 



Proceedings of the Club, 



The regular monthly meeting was held at Columbia College 

 on Tuesday evening, Dec, 13 ; Vice-President Hogg in the chair 

 and forty-nine persons present, 



Messrs. Henry Edwards and Smith Ely Jelliffe were elected 

 Active Members. 



Dr. T. J. W. Burgess, of London, Canada; Prof. John Macoun, 



^ 



of Ottawa; Isaac Holden, of Bridgeport, Conn. ; Prof ^ Byron D. 

 Halsted, of Ames, Iowa ; O. F. Cook, of Syracuse ; James Vroom, 

 of St. Stephen, New Brunswick; C. E. Smith, of Philadelphia; 

 Rev. Dr. Geo, E. Post, of Beirut, Syria, and Prof J. F. James, of 

 •Oxford, Ohio, were elected Corresponding Members. 



Dr. Britton introduced the subject of the preparation of a new 

 list of the plants of New York City and vicinity to serve as a ba- 

 sis for a local descriptive Flora. He advocated the printing at 

 once of a bare check-Usl of the species and varieties known to 

 grow^ within the circle of 100 miles radius from the city, which 

 should be freely distributed to all botanists of the region, with a 

 request for their notes on the distribution of the plants and for 

 additions to the list. On motion the following committee was 

 appointed to prepare and issue such a list : Messrs. J. F. Poggen- 

 burg, Addison Brown, Thos. C. Porter, E- E, Sterns, E, B. South- 

 wick, Arthur HolHck and N. L. Britton. 



The Secretary read a communication from Dr. Rusby con- 

 taining a plea to the Postmaster General to exercise his power in 

 recommending to Congress a change in the existing postal laws 

 by which it shall be made legal to send through the United 

 States mail together with Natural History specimens and without 

 thereby increasing the rate of postage, written labels bearing 

 the name, place and date of collection, and name of the collector 

 of the specimen with which they are associated. The desirability 

 of this change was made the subject of remark by several mem- 





