1<S88.] NATURAL SCIKNCKS OK I'lIILADKLPIIIA. 489 



Rf]PORT OF THE ("URATORS. 



The Curators present the following statement of the Curator-in- 

 Charge, Prof. Heilprin, as their report for the year 1888 : — 



The Curator-in-Charge resiiectfully reports that the collections of 

 the Academy are in good condition, and that their status, as far as 

 classification and arrangement are concerned, has been materially 

 improved during the year As heretofore, the Academy has prof- 

 ited largely through the work ol volunteer specialists, and is 

 hence placed under special obligation to those who have thus gen- 

 erously contributed their time and assistance. To Mr. J. H. Red- 

 field. Conservator of the herbarium, and to Mr. Thomas Meehan, it 

 is almost wholly indebted for the careful work that is being system- 

 atically applied toward the expansion and proper distribution of the 

 botanical collections; while to the officers of the Entomological Sec- 

 tion and of the American Entomological Society it is placed under 

 obligation for work done in connection with the department of ento- 

 mology. In the death of Mr. George W. Tryon, Jr., its Conservator 

 in the department of conchology for thirteen years, the Academy 

 has lost one of its truest and most efficient members — one who had 

 for a full quarter of a century given much of his daily time to the 

 interests of the institution. That the department will feel for some 

 time the want of his vast experience, and the absence of his governing 

 influence, there can be no question ; but it is hoped that under 

 the special direction of the new conservator, Mr. H. A. Pilsbry, 

 and of the Conchological Section, it will be kept in that command- 

 ing position which it has so firmly and justly held. 



In the departments other than those here specified the work has 

 been done almost wholly under the direction of the Curator-in- 

 Charge and his assistant, Mr. J. E. Ives. As in preceding years the 

 alcoholics have been completely overhauled, and it is satisfactory 

 to be able to report that there has been practically no loss in this part 

 of the Academy's collections since the preparation of the last annual! 

 statement. It is less agreeable to report that during the latter part 

 of the" present year several attempts to force the ornithological eases 

 have been made, with the result of robbing the collection of some 200 

 specimens of South American and Australian birds, mainly repre- 

 sentatives of the family Tanagridie. The greater number of these 

 have been recovered, and it now seems that the full loss resolves it- 

 self to jDossibly not more than a half-dozen specimens. A change 



