his endeavors to add to this interesting portion of the Society's 

 collection. 



The Curator of Ichthyology reported the good condition of the 

 specimens under his charge. 



The Curator of Botany reported "A considerable improvement 

 in the condition of the herbarium since last May. At that time 

 but a small proportion of the specimens had been systematically 

 arranged, a partial classification having been made as far as the 

 order Rubiacese. The other orders lay in folios, undistributed, 

 in several instances, without papers between the specimens. 

 Several large bundles of plants from France, Austrian Italy, the 

 Vosges Mountains, the Cape of Good Hope, an admirable col- 

 lection from Florida, and another from Kentucky, remained in 

 the same condition in which they were received. These have all 

 been examined and provided with sheets of paper during the past 

 year. 



The collection has been increased by a valuable donation from 

 the Historical Society, of a large number of European plants, 

 procured many years ago by the Hon. Thomas H. Perkins. A 

 package of New England plants, collected by the late William 

 Oakes, particularly rich in White Mountain specimens, has been 

 purchased by the Society. The Curator has procured a hundred 

 or more specimens of plants growing in the Botanic Garden, 

 Cambridge, through the kindness and ever ready assistance of 

 Prof. Gray. Many of these are new, and, as yet, unpublished 

 plants, from Texas and New Mexico. 



The entire herbarium has been revised, and sheets provided for 

 all the plants. The genera have been placed in Manilla paper 

 covers, and arranged upon the shelves according to Endlicher's 

 Genera Plantarum, bearing his numbers on the corner. The 

 Herbarium now contains representatives of about thirteen hundred 

 genera, and five or six thousand species. It is still wanting in 

 many of the New England plants, and the Curator would take 

 the opportunity to say that he is desirous of obtaining specimens 

 of all the vegetable products of the globe, particularly those of 

 our own country. As he is not able to go personally in quest of 

 them, he will be glad to receive the assistance of those better 

 able than he to procure them." 



