1849.] 251 



The Recording Secretary read the following report : 



REPORT 



OF THE RECORDING SECRETARY, 

 For 1848 '49? 



As there is no Report of the Recording Secretary for the year 1848 entered 

 upon the Minutes of the Academy, it will be proper to give a short account of 

 the Transactions of the Society during the last two years. 



There were elected, during 1818, fourteen Resident Members and twenty-five 

 Correspondents ; and during 1849, eight Resident Members and six Corres- 

 pondents. In the former year a corrected list of the Members and Correspon- 

 dents was published, which comprises 102 Life Members, and 143 Members 

 paying annually: of these, 63 are deceased; and 518 Correspondents, of whom 

 85 are deceased. Since the publication of the list, one member has resigned, and 

 another, Benjamin J. Kern, M. D., is deceased. 



From October, 1847, to the end of the last year, besides numerous minor com- 

 munications, there have been fifty principal ones made to the Academy and 

 published in its Proceedings, as follow : in General Natural History, one by Dr. 

 Morton, two by Dr. Hallowell, two by Dr. Bachman, one by Dr. Michel, two 

 by Dr. Keller, and ten by Dr. Leidy; in Mammalogy, one by Dr. Gambel ; in 

 Ornithology, ten by Mr. Cassin, two by Dr. Gambel, and one by Major McCall ; 

 in Herpetology, four by Dr. Hallowell ; in Paljeontology, one by Mr. Lea and 

 three by Dr. Leidy ; in Conchology, two by Mr. Conrad ; in Entomology, three 

 by Mr. Haldeman, one by Miss Morris, two by Dr. Savage, and one by Mr. 

 Dawson ; in Botany, one by Mr. Nuttall ; and in Geology, one by Mr. Pease. 



With the beginning of 1848, anew series of the Journal of the Academy, in quarto 

 form, was commenced, and to it, during the past two years, there have been twenty- 

 seven articles contributed, as follow: in General Natural History, one by Dr. Mor- 

 ton, one by Dr. Meigs, and two by Dr. Leidy; in Ornithology, five by Mr. Cassin 

 and two by Dr. Gambel ; in Herpetology, one by Prof. Baird ; in Conchology, 

 two by Mr. Conrad ; in Entomology, two by Mr. Haldeman and two by Dr. 

 Le Conte ; in Botany, one by Mr. Nuttall; and in Paleontology, four by Dr. 

 Gibbes, two by Mr. Conrad, one by Mr. Tuomey, and one by Prof. Owen. The 

 publication of the Journal hereafter will be much assisted by an annual income 

 derived from a legacy of two thousand dollars, bequeathed for that purpose to 

 the Academy in 1848, by the late Mrs. Elizabeth Stott, of this city. 



During the same year the following amendment was made to the By-Laws, 

 viz.: "Chap. VHL Art. IX. The Museum of the Academy shall be open to the 

 gratuitous admission of the public on the afternoons of Tuesday and Friday from 

 one o'clock until sunset." And during the last year the following amendment, 

 viz.: " Chap. VI. Art. I. There shall be fifteen standing committees, viz. — 

 1, The Ethnological Committee ; 2, the Committee on Comparative Anatomy 

 and General Zoology; 3, Committee on Mammalogy; 4, on Ornithology; 5, on 

 Herpetology _and Ichthyology ; 6, on Conchology ; 7, on Entomology ; 8, on 

 Botany; 9, on Palaeontology; 10, on Geology and Mineralogy; 11, on Physics; 

 12, on the Library ; 13, on the Proceedings ; 14, the Auditors ; each to consist of 



