1888. | NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 129 
February 27, 1888. 
SEVENTY-SECOND ANNUAL MEETING. 
The President, Pror. J. 8. NEWBERRY, in the chair. 
Thirty-four persons present. 
REPORTS OF THE OFFICERS FOR THE PAST YEAR. 
THE RECORDING SECRETARY’S REPORT. 
Meetings. 
The Council has held eleven meetings. 
The Academy has held thirty-four meetings ; every Monday 
evening during the season of the Academy sessions being occu- 
pied excepting one—that of Decoration Day. 
There have been twenty-two Stated Meetings, which include 
four Popular Lectures; nine Regular Business Meetings; one 
Adjourned Business Meeting ; one Annual Business Meeting ; 
and one Special Business Meeting, held in August during the 
meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science. 
Attendance. 
The average attendance at twenty-eight ordinary meetings was 
forty, including visitors. Only one meeting had a smaller at- 
tendance than twenty. ‘The Popular Lectures were greeted by 
the usual audiences. The meeting of November 7th, to which 
was invited the Local Committee, A. A. A. 8., was a gathering 
of about three hundred persons. The Special Meeting, in 
August, held in the Library Hall of Columbia College, was at- 
tended by perhaps a thousand persons. 
Membership. 
The List of Resident Members numbers three hundred and 
two. During the year there have been twenty resignations and 
two deaths. ‘I'wo persons have been changed from Resident to 
Corresponding members, and one from Corresponding to Resi- 
dent. ‘T'wenty persons have qualified. It is a matter for con- 
gratulation that notwithstanding the raising of fees and dues 
from five to ten dollars at the beginning of the year, the num- 
ber of members is but three less than last year. 
Seventeen Resident Members have become Fellows, making 
eighty-four Fellows at this date. 
Papers. 
Forty-nine formal or announced papers have been read, as 
against thirty-one the previous year. These are grouped as 
