36 , BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



TWENTY-SECOND MEETING, January 20, 1882. 



The President occupied the chair. Forty-five members Were 

 present. 



The President delivered the annual address on the topic THE 

 HISTORY OF CLASSIFICATION IN ZOOLOGY. 



In his introductory remarks he congratulated the Society upon its 

 present flourishing condition, stating that during the year its mem 

 bership had nearly doubled. He also reviewed the history of other 

 scientific societies of the city, mentioning the National Institute, 

 the Botanical Society, the Potomac Side Naturalists' Club, the Physi 

 cal Club, and the Geological and Geographical Society, all now ex 

 tinct, and the existing Philosophical, Anthropological, and Biologi 

 cal Societies. He also spoke of the eminent zoologists who had 

 been, in the early days of its history, identified with the Potomac 

 Side Naturalists' Club, the predecessor of the Biological Society, 

 mentioning the names of Prof. S. F. Baird, Count L. F. de Pour- 

 tales, Dr. William Stimpson, Mr. Robert Kennicott, Prof. J. S. 

 Newberry, Mr. H. Ulke, Dr. Harrison Allen, Dr. Elliott Coues, 

 Dr. D. W. Prentiss, Dr. F. V. Hayden, Mr. F. B. Meek, Baron 

 R. von Osten Sacken, Dr. William A. Hammond, Prof. Burt G. 

 Wilder, Dr. George Suckley, Mr. Titian R. Peale, and others. 



TWENTY-THIRD MEETING, February 3, 1882. 



Prof. Lester F. Ward, V. P., occupied the chair. Thirty-three 

 members were present. 



Mr. Frederick W. True read a paper ON THE ARCTIC SEA Cow, 

 (RHYTINA STELLERI.)* Mr. Henry W. Elliott exhibited draw 

 ings of the same extinct animal, and submitted a restoration by 

 himself, the merits of which he advocated. 



Mr. Frederick W. True exhibited an immense specimen of Siren 

 lacertina, twenty-six inches in length, captured in the mud flats in 

 front of the city of Washington. This species had not previously 

 been recorded north of North Carolina. 



*To be published in the forthcoming Census Report on the Fishery industries 

 of the United States. 



