1898.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 507 



Some little relief in the way of additional room has been secured 

 by the selecting out and packing away of a number of volumes of 

 official documents, State executive reports, miscellaneous literature, 

 and other material entirely unconnected with the Academy's func- 

 tion. It is suggested that these be disposed of to some library where 

 they will not be so entirely out of place and where they are likely 

 to be looked for by those interested in them. 



A large collection of duplicate volumes and pamphlets numbering 

 1,096 titles have been arranged and catalogued. It is hoped that 

 means may be furnished for the printing of the list. There is no 

 doubt that the expense would be refunded by sales, while the books 

 would be so distributed as to confer benefit on these acquiring them 

 instead of lying, as now, useless in our storage room. 



While the binding during the year of 174 volumes has been un- 

 usually small in amount, it has been unusually important in char- 

 acter, twelve volumes of Gould's folios, embracing the Birds of New 

 Guinea in five volumes and the Birds of Asia in seven, have been 

 bound in a manner befitting the artistic beauty of the works. The 

 expense was defrayed from the Wilson Fund, to which the books 

 themselves were credited, thus materially curtailing the amount 

 available from that source for the purchase of additions. The un- 

 bound numbers had, however, been practically inaccessible to students 

 since the completion of the works, whereas they now form an avail- 

 able portion of the ornithological library and a superb addition to 

 the collection of finely illustrated folios which, thanks to the taste 

 and liberality of Dr. Thomas B. Wilson, is one of our notable posses- 

 sions. 



A careful enumeration of the library during the year furnishes 

 the following results : — 



