1892.] business proceedings. ii9 



March 28, 1892. 



stated meeting. 



The President, Professor H. L. Fairchild, in tlie chair. 

 A large audience present. 



The President announced that Mr. Joseph B. Fuller had pre- 

 sented to the Academy his very valuable herbarium, and read the fol- 

 lowing report from the Curator of Botany, Miss Florence Beckwith : 



"The Academy is again the recipient of an addition to its col- 

 lections. Mr. Joseph B. Fuller, of this city, has presented to the 

 Society a collection of pressed plants for its herbarium. The collec- 

 tion comprises over 2500 specimens, representing more than 900 

 species, and is very valuable on many accounts. It was begun in 

 185 1 when a great portion of what is now wnthin the limits of the 

 city was covered by the forest, and when the banks of the river, on 

 both sides from the upper falls down, afforded a rich field for botan- 

 ists. Many of the specimens were rare when they were collected, 

 and great numbers of them are now extinct in the localities in which 

 they were found. Any one who botanizes over this field now, will 

 sadly realize that our native flora is fast being exterminated, and a 

 collection which shows what once grew here will be more and more 

 valuable every year. The specimens also represent years of patient 

 study and careful research, and are especially valuable for the cor- 

 rectness with which they are named. 



" They do not represent local flora exclusively, quite a number 

 of them being from the White Mountains and some from the western 

 prairies and other parts of the United States. Mr. Fuller modestly 

 calls it a collection of dried plants, but it is a herbarium in itself, and 

 we are particularly fortunate in being favored wnth the gift." 



The President further announced that Professor S. A. Ellis 

 had presented to the library of the Academy the four volumes of 

 "Contributions to the Natural History of the United States," by 

 Louis Agassiz. 



A written report from the committee appointed at the meeting 

 of February 29, to represent the Academy in urging upon the State 

 Legislature the necessit}^ for a topographical survey of the State was 

 read by the President. The State Engineer in a letter to the com- 

 mittee announced that the combined efforts of those asking for the 



