xxxii Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



The President reported that after a contribution of 

 $2,500 and a transfer from the current treasury account 

 of $1,000 had last year raised the Academy endowment 

 to $6,500, which, by the further gift of Mr. John Holmes, 

 had been increased to $7,000, a circular letter sent to all 

 members of the Academy had brought in the further sum 

 of $500 contributed by Messrs. Gustav Baumgarten, M. S. 

 Brennan, D. I. Bushnell, E. C. Dameron, W. E. Fischel, 

 George Lang, Jr., E. H. Larkin, Edward Mallinckrodt, 

 Jr., Frank Mesker, J. S. Thurman and T. D. Witt— 

 which had been added to the endowment from time to 

 time as received. 



It was further reported that under authorization voted 

 by the Academy in the early part of this year, the Presi- 

 dent and Treasurer had recently transferred to the Saint 

 Louis Union Trust Company this sum of $7,500, to which 

 a few members of the Academy, Messrs. W. K. Bixby, 

 George O. Carpenter, Peyton Carr, Benjamin Gratz, Ed- 

 ward Mallinckrodt, D. S. H. Smith and William Trelease, 

 and Mrs. Eliza McMillan, had added a like sum,— the 

 total of $15,000, under the agreement sanctioned by the 

 Academy, to be held in trust for a period of twenty-five 

 years and the proceeds of its investment collected and 

 turned over to the Academy for its current use. 



Calling attention to the rules concerning the election 

 of patrons, the President stated that among these con- 

 tributors to the Academy's endowment (in addition to 

 Mrs. McMillan, who is already a patron of the Academy), 

 Mr. W. K. Bixby and Mr. Edward Mallinckrodt had 

 given over $1,000 each, and recommended that these gen- 

 tlemen be elected patrons of the Academy. 



Dr. William Trelease gave an illustrated account of 

 "The Geographical Distribution of Agave in the West 

 Indies and its Probable Mode of Introduction." 



Three main types of Agave are recognized in the West Indies; 

 one confined to the southwestern Cuban region, another to the Inaguas, 

 and the third ranging through the entire archipelago. Subtypes of the 

 latter are limited respectively to the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas, 

 the Caribbees, and the Leeward Islands and the adjoining Venezuelan 

 coast. Within these groups specific differentiation is observable so 

 that each island isolated by a 100-fathom channel has its endemic 



