1888] MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 5 



instructive, and they were generally attended by earnest 

 audiences which completely filled the hall. 



Beo-innina; with the year 1866, field meetino;s were held on 

 alternate clear Saturdays during the summer or early autumn. 

 These were usually presided over by an officer or other promi- 

 nent member of the Academy, who selected for the assemblage a 

 school-house or other building in some part of the country 

 adjacent to Baltimore. The morning was spent by the party, 

 usually numbering from twelve to twenty persons, in collecting or 

 observing natural objects, and an hour or more of the afternoon 

 was devoted to the meeting, where statements or lectures were 

 given relative to the subjects which had attracted the most 

 attention. Most prominent among the leaders in these inter- 

 esting exercises was Mr. Philip T. Tyson. He being a good 

 geologist, mineralogist and chemist, was ever ready to make 

 happy remarks upon the structure and peculiarities of the 

 reo-ion visited. Likewise Rev. John G. Morris was often called 

 upon to recognize some strange butterfly or beetle, and to recite 

 in his attractive manner some striking points in its life history. 

 Other members also, among whom may be mentioned Prof. 

 Geo. L. Smith, Prof. Alfred Mayer, and Col. H. M. F. von 

 Stamp, have assisted in leading the excursionists, and have 

 given instructive and pleasing lectures on botany, hydrography, 

 physical geography, and other subjects introduced at these 

 meetings. 



Persons from all parts of the State visited the museum, and 

 were often assisted to obtain information about natural objects 

 which had excited their interest at home. 



In 1883 the City of Baltimore passed an act to extend 

 Cathedral Street ; the building of the Academy being in the 

 way of this improvement, a part of it was removed to give 

 sufficient width to the street. Accordingly the building was 

 sold by the city, together with the parcel of ground on which 

 it stood, and the Academy not being able to buy both, lost the 

 home which it had enjoyed for so many years. 



The cases and collections were then removed to rooms in the 

 basement of the Athenseum Building, rented from the Maryland 

 Historical Society. In these the specimens were displayed as 



