The following addition to the By-Laws was adopted: 

 Chap. VI. Art. 4. — It shall be the duty of the Finance Committee to take 

 charge, with the Treasurer, of all monies coming to the Society, and to invest 

 the same: to change any or all of the investments of the Society, whenever it 

 may deem ii advantageous to do so, and to report such changes to the Society 

 at its next meeting, with the reasons for making the change. 



The Thanks of the Society were voted to Baron II. Osten Sacken, 

 August Morawitz, C. Stal, and Dr. Herrich-Schaffer, for donations 

 made by them this evening. 



On Ballot, the following named persons were elected Resident Mem- 

 bers of the Society : Charles II. Hart, Robert Kilvington. 



The following communication was read from Baron R. Osten 

 Sacken : 



Among the various collections already formed or forming in the rooms of the 

 Entomological Society, a collection of larvae as far as I am informed, has not 

 found a place yet. I hope that the small collection of this kind which I offer 

 to-day to the acceptance of the Society, may encourage other collectors to simi- 

 lar contributions. 



My collection was gradually, and I may say, unintentionally accumulated 

 in the course of my entomological studies in St. Petersburgh and in Washing- 

 ton. Many specimens have been lost during that time through breakage of the 

 bottles or drying up of the alcohol ; nevertheless, what remains of it now, little 

 as it is, contains a number of interesting S25ecimens and is still worth preserv- 

 ing. My experience with regard to the preservation of alcoholic collections 

 of larvse, has led me to the belief, that the only way to insure such a preserva- 

 tion is. to keep the small bottles filled with alcohol and containing the larvre. 

 immersed in a larger glass vessel or jar, likewise filled with alcohol. Thus 

 the whole collection maybe contained in a small number of jars, which are 

 easily kept in view and whenever necessary, refilled with alcohol. By this 

 means the necessity of refilling several hundreds of the small bottles is done 

 away with for many years. When, on the contrary, the ordinary plan is 

 adopted and the small bottles are kept separate in nice little cases or boxes. 

 such an arrangement, advantageous and elegant as it may appear, invariably 

 leads to the disappointment of finding this or that larva dried up from want of 

 alcohol. An imperceptible crack in the bottle or a leak in the cork, in a very 

 few days produces such an accident. 



The single specimens of a collection kept, according to my plan, in large jars, 

 can be rendered more accessible by being arranged in groups, according to the 

 families, to which the larvse belong. The large jar can be divided by horizontal 

 partitions ; or small bags can be provided, each to contain a certain number of 

 small bottles (for instance a genus or a family), which bags, properly labelled, 

 would be immersed in the alcohol of the large jar. With the aid of a catalogue, 

 referring to the numbers of the jars and bags, such a collection would be easily 

 accessible to the student. As to the general public, a collection of alcoholic larva- 

 in most case- affords but very little interest. 



With the above recommendations, I give up my little collection to the good 

 care of the Society. 



