228 [December, 1842. 



MEETING FOR BUSINESS, AND ANNUAL MEETING. 



December 27, 1842. 



Yice President Morton in the Chair. 



The Annual Reports of the Librarian, of the Treasurer, 

 and of the Publication Committee havinar been read and 

 adopted, the following Report was presented on behalf of 

 the Botanical Committee and adopted, and ordered to be 

 published in the Procedings. 



The Botanical Committee having, during the present year, completed 

 the arrangement of the extensive and valuable collection of Plants, pre- 

 sented in 1839 hy Dr. F. Menke, of Pyrmont, Germany, beg leave to 

 make the following statement, forming the principal portion of their Re- 

 port, due at this season. 



The apparent neglect and delay in the arrangement of this collection on 

 the part of the Committee, may be accounted for by the fact, that at the 

 period of its presentation, preparations were in progress for the erection of 

 the new Hall, and that after the removal of the Museum to the latter, a 

 large portion of the time and attention of the Committee was required, in 

 common with the other members of the Academy, for the disposal and ar- 

 rangement of its collections in the other departments. 



During this period the plants had not been removed from the boxes in 

 which they had been originally sent by Dr. Menk<5. On examination they 

 were found to be very carefully and closely packed, and to have sustained 

 no injury from dampness, and but comparatively few specimens to have 

 been destroyed by insects. The whole collection had been arranged after 

 the Linuean or artificial system ; the plants distributed into fasciculi and 

 labelled accordingly. About two-thirds were well selected and character- 

 istic specimens, in good paper, with labels containing the name with the 

 authority for it, the synonyme, the locality, date of collection, and frequently 

 the name of a donor. The remainder were enclosed in coarse brown paper, 

 without order or arrangement, and although in most cases properly labelled ; 

 in many close comparison and study were necessary, in order to determine 

 even the generic character. The localities were chiefly Pyrmont, Bruns- 

 wick, Bremen, Arolsen, Monspelier, and Gottingen. From the celebrated 

 botanical garden in the vicinity of this latter, very many species had been 

 derived. Specimens were occasionally met with from France, the West 

 Indies, Hungary, &c. 



The greater part of this collection had been made between the years 

 1810 and 1815. 



Among the names of donors were many distinguished in Botanical 

 Science, as Thunberg, Sprengel, Bernhardi, Prof. Treviranus, Prof. 

 Mertens, Rasmer Goehnat, Lehtnann, Salzmann, Rohde, Weudland, Meyer, 

 Shrceder, Ehrtnberg, Schmidt, &c. 



By a reference to the new catalogue, it will be seen that a large propor- 

 tion of the genera (and most probably of the species) contained in this 







