No. 3.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 183 



Mr. Dall for comparison with nearly related forms from the 

 Arctic waters of the North Pacific, in his cabinet. 



Some progress has been made in the determination of such 

 species of marine animals (obtained during three dredging ex- 

 peditions to the Gulf) as had not been previously studied. My 

 own time has been given to the sponges and polyzoa, also to a 

 revision of the mollusca. About fourteen species have been 

 added to the known fauna of that region. Several critical Crus- 

 tacea and echinoderms, dredged by Principal Dawson at Metis 

 last summer, have been sent to Profs. Smith and Verrill, who 

 have kindly reported thereon. The whole of the echinodermata 

 from the Gulf in the collections of Principal Dawson and of the 

 Society are now determined. 



Lieut.-Col. Bulger, whose donations to the Society have been 

 so numerous and valuable, has added to his favours by presenting 

 to the Society a tine collection of the shells of the Andaman 

 Islands in the Bay of Bengal. It contains 137 species, in excel- 

 lent order, most of which have been mounted on tablets, and 87 

 have been named. 



In last year's report it was stated that the whole of my own 

 private collection of fossils and shells had been imported from 

 England. They fill four large packing cases, and had not been 

 opened for fourteen yenrs. It was found that many of the most 

 delicate shells had been attacked by mildew, and some had been 

 so much injured as to be worthless. An attempt has beeu made to 

 remedy this state of things, but my time has beeu so much occu- 

 pied with other work that only two of the cases have been opened. 



At a late meeting of the Library Committee, I was requested 

 to examine into and report upon the present condition of the 

 library. All the American exchanges that are unbound have 

 accordingly been tied up in volumes, and the numbers of the 

 missing parts, or the word complete, as the case may be, written 

 on each set. The whole of the Society's collection of pamphlets 

 has been gone through with the view of selecting sets for binding. 



The ordinary secretarial duties, such as the calling of meetings, 

 the posting of the minutes, and other routine work, has been 

 much the same as in past years, but the purely scientific corres- 

 pondence entailed by the constant addition of new specimens, is 

 very largely on the increase. 



The report of the Treasurer was next read by Mr. E. E. 

 Shelton. This will be found on the next page. 

 Vol. VIII. L No. 3. 



