516 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1898. 



The arrangement and fastening down of the specimens, begun bj 

 Mr. Redfield many years ago, has now been carried down as far as 

 Solanaceoe. In this good work Mr. Uselma C Smith has rendered 

 valuable aid to the Director. If a salaried Conservator could be 

 engaged to direct a number of volunteers this great work of the 

 Academy might be completed within a short time. 



The Section is out of debt with a small balance in the Treasury. 

 The officers for the ensuing year are : 



Director, ..... Thomas Meehan. 



Charles E. Smith. 

 Charles Schaeffer, M. D. 

 Jos. D. Crawford. 

 Stewardson Brown. 

 Respectfully submitted, 



Thomas Meehan, 



Director. 



Vice-Director, . 

 Recorder, 



Corresponding Secretary, 

 Conservator and Treasurer, 



Report of the Conservator. — In presenting this report for the year 

 1898 the Conservator of the Botanical Section wishes to express his 

 appreciation of the aid rendered by the Curators of the Academy in 

 the furnishing of additional cases for the accommodation of the her- 

 barium in the new botanical room on the Library floor formerly 

 occupied by the Entomological Section. 



These cases which were completed in the early part of the year, 

 have rendered necessary the rearrangement of the herbarium, which 

 has been accomplished through the aid of the Director of the Section, 

 Mr. Thomas Meehan. The consolidation of the North American 

 herbarium, formerly kept in the room on the gallery floor, with the 

 general herbarium, will be found to be a great convenience to those 

 making use of the collections. This latter work, which is necessarily 

 slow, will be completed during the present winter. 



The rearrangement of the collections, notwithstanding the addi- 

 tional cases furnished, has made it necessary to remove the speci- 

 mens of vascular Cryptogams to the cases on the gallery floor 

 formerly occupied by the North American Herbarium, the Phanero- 

 gams being disposed of in the cases in the two rooms on the library 

 floor. 



The work of arranging the collections deposited in 1897 by the 

 American Philosophical Society has satisfactorily progressed, and, it 

 is hoped, will be completed by the end of the coming year. 



The mounting of the general herbarium has been somewhat 

 retarded during the year owing to the enforced absence of the assist- 

 ant in the herbarium, due to illness. 



