320 [December, 



while sight and hearing place external things in relation with us, it is voice 

 which places us in relation with external things. 



The Journal of the Proceedings, and the Journal of the Academy, are the 

 vocal organs, the voice of the Institution, through the medium of which all the 

 facts it acquires, and all the opinions it forms, are promulgated. These publi- 

 cations are a sure means of making known the results ef our investigations and 

 studies, and, consequently, our existence as a corporate body. Through them 

 alone the Academy is placed in communication with analogous Institutions at 

 distant points of our own country and in foreign lands. To these publications 

 the Academy is indebted for its reputation, a wide-spread appreciation of its 

 importance, and also for much of what is contained in the Library and in the 

 Museum. 



While we refer with satisfaction to the quantity and quality of information 

 placed on record and printed in the Proceedings, and may be excused, perhaps, 

 for believing that this journal is not surpassed, if equalled, by any similar 

 publication in the United States, it may be well to disclose the fact that it does 

 not receive^ even from members of the Academy, all the substantial support 

 and encouragement which are necessary to its prosperity. 



When it is known that the subscription price of a copy of the Proceedings 

 for one year is only one dollar, it is hoped this statement will be sufficient to 

 cause every member to contribute towards diminishing the charge upon the 

 Treasury, by becoming a subscriber himself, and by inducing others to subscribe 

 whenever proper opportunity offers. 



The whole is submitted on behalf of the Committee on Proceedings, 



W. S. W. RUSCHENBEEQEE, 



Hall of the Academy^ Dec. 28, 1852. 



Dr. Fisher, from the Committee on Mammalogy, reported that 123 

 skins of mammalia had been mounted and added to the collection, 

 at an expense of $289, which had been defrayed by the following 

 named members : Edward Harris, J. Price Wetherill, Charles D. 

 Meigs, John K. Mitchell, George W. Carpenter, William S. Vaux, 

 Joseph Carson, Jos. Pancoast, P. B. Goddard, Robert Pearsall, Wm. E. 

 Horner, Isaac Lea, Thomas D. Miitter, George B. Wood, Wm. Parker 

 Foulke, Charles Lennig, Thos. B. Wilson, W. S. W. Ruschenberger, 

 B. H. Ooates, Samuel Ashmead, B. E. Peterson, R. Bridges, Jas. C. 

 Fisher. 



Dr. Woodhouse requested that the following correction be published 

 in the Proceedings : 



Having discovered that the specific name dorsalis, which I applied to 

 the squirrel brought by me from New Mexico, and which I described in 

 the Proceedings of the Academy for June last (page 110,) has already 

 been applied by J. E. Gray to one of the same genus, I propose now 

 to call it SciURUS Aberti, after Colonel J. J. Abert, chief of the corps 

 of Topographical Engineers, U. S. Army, to whose exertions science is 

 much indebted. 



