1901.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 755 



room, relieving for the present the pressure on some of the more 

 crowded sectionvS of the periodicals. The growth of the library 

 in this department, as indeed in all the others, is likely to be so 

 rapid in the future, in view of the comparatively liberal appro- 

 priations which can now be made, that the question of additional 

 shelving and room for its accommodation will soon become a press- 

 ing one. Another important need is a case for the arrangement 

 and storage of maps, the necessity of which was brought to the 

 attention of the Academy as early as 1889. 



Among the more important accessions of the past year have been 

 a number of early sets of journals secured from the catalogues of 

 second-hand dealers. As the Academy has special reason to set 

 store by what is believed to be its well-nigh unequaled collection of 

 journals and transactions, it is desirable that desiderata be secured 

 as promptly as possible, as the opportunities of doing so are yearly 

 becoming fewer because of the very liberal means at the disposal 

 of many scientific libraries recently started and the vigor of their 

 administration. The Academy has had the advantage of being 

 early in the field, and, though having no means of its own for many 

 years, the devotion of William Maclure and Thomas B. Wilson 

 secured for it bibliographical treasures which can no longer be 

 bought. 



A list of the serials now received in exchange or subscribed for 

 is appended. 



The works on Philology have been selected from the Meigs 

 Library and from the department of Anthropology, and uow^ form 

 a separate section containing 296 volumes. 



The card catalogue is being carefully revised and certain un- 

 avoidable duplications and irregularities are being corrected. 



A portrait of the late Thomas Meehan, in oil, by James L. 

 Wood, was presented by Mr. Chai-les Roberts in May. While it 

 has distinct value as a work of art, it forms a most desirable 

 memorial of the senior Vice-President, whose recent death is 

 referred to elsewhere. 



Dr. John G. LeConte presented a crayon portrait of Mr. Charles 

 E. Smith, a benefactor whose death was announced last year. 

 The picture has been placed in the herbarium. 



The present extent of the library, determined by a careful 

 count, is as follows : 



