Shall We Have an American Concholo^ical Society ? 



For half a century tlic Conchologists and shell collectors of Brook- 

 lyn have held frequent meetings to compare notes and view collections. 

 For several years they formed a Section in the Department of Natural 

 History of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, hut withdrew 

 from that hody four years since and organized the Brooklyn Concho- 

 logical Club. 



Letters of inquiry about the Club were received from time to time 

 and it seemed that all parties would be mutually benefitted if students 

 of the Mollusca in all parts of the country were united in one organ- 

 ization and provided with a means of communication and exchange of 

 opinions. 



At the regular meeting of the Club in May, 1907, it was resolved to 

 receive members from all parts of North America, to adopt for the 

 name of the larger body "The American Conchological Society/' and 

 to cail the first annual meeting in October, 1907. 



On motion the following were appointed a committee to organize 

 the society, elect officers and make rules to govern it until the first 

 annual meeting and to report to said meeting : Silas C. Wheat, C. 

 Dayton Gwyer, Maxwell Smith, Frank H. Ames, Fred W. Weaver, 

 A. di Costa Gomez, Charles A. Dayton, D. W. Ferguson, W. H. 

 Weeks, A. W. Lawrence, and J. W. Judd. 



The committee arranged for an official organ (a monthly publica- 

 tion), and for one or more bulletins each year, enrolled members, 

 secured a room for the annual meeting in the American Museum of 

 Natural History, prepared a prospectus of the new society to be cir- 

 culated as soon as people should return from their vacations, and 

 elected the following officers : President, Dr. H. A. Pilsbry, Curator 

 of Dep. Mollusca, Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia ; Vice- 

 President, Louis A. Gratacap, Curator American Museum Natural 

 History; Treasurer, Silas C. Wheat, of Brooklyn; Secretary, Maxwell 

 Smith, of the Amer. Museum Nat. History. 



An independent movement with the same end in view took place in 

 Boston during the recent session ,of the International Congress of 

 Zoology, August 19-24, resulting in the appointment of the following 

 Committee: Dr. William II. Ball, of Washington; Dr. H. A. Pilsbry, 

 of Philadelphia; Elizabeth J. Letson, of Buffalo; Silas C. Wheat, of 

 Brooklyn ; and John Ritchie, Jr., of Boston. 



The slow pace of the correspondence that followed between the 

 scattered members of the two committees caused a delay in issuing 

 the prospectus and made it necessary to abandon the plan for a general 

 meeting in October. 



Both committees desire harmony and the establishment of the 

 society upon a secure foundation. In place of the prospectus by the 



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