PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED 



SOCIETIES 



THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 79th meeting was held at the Shoreham Hotel, March 5, 1912. 

 This was the annual open meeting at which the retiring President, 

 Prof. W . J. Spillman, presented his address on, The present status of the 

 genetics problem, which will appear in Science. 



The 80th meeting was held April 2, 1912. Dr. Errett Wallace and 

 Messrs. L. H. Evans, S. M. McMurran and S. C. Stuntz were elected 

 to membership. The following papers were read: 



The celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia: W. E. Safford, delegate of the Botan- 

 ical Society of Washington. 



The meetings of the celebration were held on the evening of March 



9, and during the two following days, in the new lecture hall of the 



Academy. A reception was given by the President of the Academy, 



Dr. Samuel G. Dixon, on the evening of March 20, and a banquet on 



the following evening at the Academy. 



In enumerating some of the principal achievements of the Academy, 

 Mr. Safford referred to the second arctic expedition of Dr. Kane, and to 

 the more recent expedition of Peary, in 1891, which was wholly under 

 the Academy's auspices. In speaking of the educational facilities 

 offered by the Academy, he called attention to the fund left in trust 

 by Mr. A. E. Jessup, for assisting young men to pursue studies in natural 

 history. Some of its beneficiaries have become distinguished zoologists 

 and geologists. 



Among the most valuable bequests and gifts received by the Academy 

 are the botanical collections of the Rev. Lewis David von Schweinitz 

 and of Dr. Charles W. Short, of Louisville, Ky., as well as the priceless 

 collection of birds presented to the Academy by Dr. Thomas B. Wilson, 

 which includes the types of Gould's Birds of Australia. 



In conclusion Mr. Safford gave an account of the Academy's herba- 

 rium, of the Zoological Garden of Philadelphia, and the admirable Com- 

 mercial and Economic Museum established in that city. This museum, 

 which had for its nucleus, collections from Columbian Exposition of 

 1893, has received important additions from each subsequent exposi- 

 tion held in this country. 



Studies in European herbaria with special reference to preservation of 

 type specimens: W. T. Swingle. The speaker referred to his experi- 

 ences during two visits in the past year to the principal European herbari.;. 

 The superiority of the European herbaria over the American in the 

 cosmopolitan nature of their collections was emphasized. In many 



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