No. 1.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 17 



The report of the Chairman of Council was next read by Mr. 

 G. L. Marler, as follows : 



REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN OF COUNCIL. 



Your Council, at the end of their year of office, respectfully 

 report as follows : 



That the regular Monthly Meetings have been held, to the 

 number of six, at which nine papers have been read. A list of 

 these will be found in the Proceedings of the Society for tha 

 year just closed. 



Your Council have also to report that negociations have been 

 entered into between the " Fraser Institute," the " Royal Insti- 

 tution for the promotion of Learning," and this Society, with a 

 view to the union of the latter with the Fraser Institute, in 

 order to establish a Free Museum of Natural History and 

 Archaeology. 



The President and Principal Dawson were appointed a Com- 

 mittee to confer with the Governors of the Fraser Institute, and 

 a preliminary memorandum of the conditions of uuion has been 

 prepared. Some progress in the matter has been made, the 

 proposition for the said union being favorably entertained by the 

 Governors of the Fraser Institute. Special application was also 

 made by this Society to the Royal Institution for the advance- 

 ment of Learning to obtain its consent to such amalgamation, 

 subject to the same rights in the new museum as its professors 

 and students now possess. Further action in the matter has 

 been delayed, in consequence of the absence of the Honorable 

 Mr. Abbott, one of the Trustees of the Fraser Institute, in 

 England. On his return, these negociations will be resumed. 



A Field Day was held on the 24th of May, 1874, at Belceil 

 Mountain, and nothwithstanding the unfavourable state of the 

 weather the excursion was a decided success. A large number 

 of people took part in it, a very pleasant day was spent, and 

 prizes were awarded for the best collections made. Your council 

 would suggest to the incoming officers that these Field Days 

 should be continued. 



Your Council would further report that the operations of its 

 Scientific Curator in Dredging in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence 

 were discontinued this year, through the inability of the Minister 

 of Marine and Fisheries to place one of the Government vessels 

 at his disposal, as on former occasions. 



