194 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 



The reports of the Custodian, Secretary and Treasurer were looked forward to with 

 much interest, the members generally realizing the difficulty of accomplishing the neces- 

 sary work of the Society within the means at its .disposal, without incurring debt or lessen- 

 ing its funded property. When listened to at the annual meeting, they gave great satis- 

 faction, showing as they did much progress in several departments of the Museum, con- 

 tinued growth of the Library, a fair amount of publication, and good attendance at the 

 meetings. It will be borne in mind that the period was one of prolonged business depres- 

 sion, rendering the income from the Society's funds quite uncertain, and that the Council 

 at the beginning of the year had decided to limit the expenditures to the least possible 

 sum consistent with the Society's future welfare. The Custodian commenced his report 

 by deploring that this decision, though necessary, had prevented continued improvement 

 in the cases, and thus arrested work, the accomplishment of which alone could render the 

 collections secure from damage by dust and insects. 



From the remarks of the Custodian upon the state of the collections, the following is 

 presented. 



The Minerals remained in the good condition of the previous years and had received val- 

 uable accessions from the Pi'esident. 



The Palaeontological collections had had much labor bestowed upon them by Mr. 

 Crosby, the assistant in the Museum, and by Miss Washburn and Miss Carter, who had 

 aided him in mounting and labelling the specimens. The whole department was stated to 

 be divided into sections according to locality, and collections of it arranged entirely to 

 illustrate the stratigraphical relations of fossUs. There were of the North American col- 

 lection on exhibition, 1040 genera embracing 2034 species, and 7834 specimens. These 

 had been derived from the following sources : Mass. Institute of Technology, 2223 ; 

 C. S. Hale collection, 1013; Cleveland collection, 627; various, 3971; making a total of 

 7834. 



The most valuable parts of this collection are specimens of Paradoxides from Braintree, 

 embracing the original from the Jackson Cabinet ; a fine suite of Crinoids from Mr. J. M. 

 Barnard ; the coal plants of the Sogers Cabinet; the fine animal impressions on stone 

 from Turner's Falls ; the reptilian bones from the red sandstone of the Connecticut 

 valley, presented by Prof W. B. Rogers, and the fossils from Attleboi'o, Mass. 



Of the Eser collection of European species, there were on exhibition 1306 genera, em- 

 bracing 2563 species, and 8809 specimens. 



The Botanical department under the charge of Mr. John Cummings had been steadily 

 progressing. Three-fifths of the flowering plants had been revised, and work had only 

 been suspended awaiting the reception of a further number of the " Genera Plantarum." 

 Miss Carter had been engaged much of the time in assorting, condensing and projoerly 

 arranging duplicates. She had also sorted, mounted and labelled a large and valuable col- 

 lection of lichens under the direction of Mr. C. J. Sprague, who reported that " this 

 formed the Lichen-herbarium of Dr. Thomas Taylor, an Irish botanist, to whom Sir W. J. 

 and Sir Joseph Hooker communicated the whole of their extensive collections of lichens 

 gathered during many exploring expeditions. Dr. Taylor published descri2Dtions of these 

 plants in the London Journal of Botany, 1844-46, and many of the specimens are 'the 

 originals of the descriptions. Mr. John Amory Lowell purchased the collection of 



