238 Annual Meeting of the 



MUSEUM AND LIBRARY. 



The Reports of the Librarian and Curator and of the Library- 

 Committee have been submitted. The donations received have 

 been nuraei'ous and valuable. The krge collection of skins 

 of birds and mammals presented by the Smithsonian Institution 

 is especially deserving of notice, and will at an early meeting 

 of the Society be made the subject of a special report by one 

 of the members of Council. A very important contribution 

 is also the deposit in our rooms through the kindness of Sir W. 

 E. Logan, of a suite of specimens of the invertebrates recently col- 

 lected by the Geological Survey. These are not a donation to 

 the Society, but are placed in our rooms in order that they may 

 be accessible to students, and that space may be made in the 

 crowded apartments of the Geological Survey for its increasing 

 collections of fossils. This is a gratifjnng proof of the public 

 utility of t!ie spacious Museum of this Society; and as the col- 

 lection will be arranged for us by Mr. R. Bell, it will place with- 

 in reach of the public, means of systematic study not previously 

 enjoyed, in one leading branch of the Natural History of Canada, 

 and will supply perhaps the greatest deficiency previously existing 

 in our Museum. 



It is due to Mr. Hunter, the cabinet keeper, to state that he has 

 exerted himself most assiduously in the care of the collection, 

 and also in preparing the numerous specimens presented to the 

 Society. 



PUBLIC LECTURES. 



In pursuance of the requirement of the bequest of the late 

 Rev. A. Somerville, the annual course of free lectures was opened 

 on Thursday, February 21st, by an address on the objects and 

 prospects of the Society, by the President, the Lord Bishop of 

 Montreal. It consisted of the following lectures : — 



1. By Principal Dawson, on the Aboriginal Antiquities of 

 Montreal. 



2. By the Rev. Dr. De Sola, on the Arts and Sciences of the 

 Ancient Hebrews. 



3. By Wm. H. Hingston, M.D., on the climate of Canada in 

 its relation to life and health. 



4. By Ed. Murphy, on the Microscope and Microscopic re- 

 search. 



5. By Alfred Rimmer, on Sea Birds and their habits. 



6. By Dr. Wilkes, on Natural Heritage. 



