196 DAVENPORT ACADEMY <>l NATURAL S< II ' 



January jo, 1885. — Regular Meeting. 



President C. E. Putnam in the chair; fifteen members present. 



Deferred reports were presented as follows: 



The annual report of the Treasurer, Mr. VV. H. Fluke, shows the 

 receipts during the past year to have been $870.08; expenditures, 

 $839.87; leaving a balance in the treasury of $30.21, which, together 

 with the Endowment Fund, leaves a total balance of $896.95. 



L. M. Pratt's report, Recording Secretary, develops some interesting 

 figures. There was an average attendance of eleven. Five opera 

 house entertainments were given under the auspices of the Academy, 

 and Washington's birthday was observed. Total regular members, 150; 

 life members, 79; elected during the year, 10. There were 1,974 pay- 

 ing visitors to the Academy, 1,017 visiting members, and 1,507 visitors 

 by invitation, business calls, etc., making a total of 4,498. 



CURATOR'S REPORT. 

 To the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences: 



In regard to the condition and progress of the Academy museum 

 for the past year I would respectfully report : 



The principal accessions to the archaeological department consist 

 of the contents of twenty-three boxes and barrels of relics from the 

 southern mounds, collected and forwarded by Capt. W. P. Hall. The 

 relics are principally ancient pottery, a large portion of which is secured 

 in a fragmentary condition. The broken vessels have been partially 

 restored, leaving considerable work to be done to complete it. 



The collections of the year comprise over two hundred earthen ves- 

 sels, including a very considerable variety of forms. The most of these 

 are packed away for the present, as the cabinet cases are fully occupied 

 and none have been added during the year. With the pottery came a 

 variety of stone, flint, and bone implements, and nine mound skulls in 

 fair condition. The collection of human crania now number 124 well- 

 preserved specimens. A small collection of flint, agate, and bone im- 

 plements has also been received, collected during the summer on the 

 site of an old Maundon town near the banks of the Missouri River, at 

 Le Beau, Dakota. No explorations of mounds in this vicinity have 

 been made by the Academy or its members except some work by Rev. 

 J. Gass, in the north-eastern part of the State, which is described in a 

 paper from him presented at the December meeting. 



In the natural history department eight stuffed birds have been pre- 

 sented by Dr. S. C. Bowman, and a stuffed alligator, half-grown, a fine 

 specimen, by D. J. W. Yiele. 



.Mr. H. A. Pilsbry has collected several species of aquatic shells new 

 to this locality, and he has prepared a catalogue, now nearly completed, 

 of the whole collection of shells in the museum. 



