no less than the keeping bright and untarnished, and 

 transmitting to our successors, the name and fame of 

 the science that has absorbed such minds as those of 

 Wilson, Nuttall, Audubon, Bonaparte andCassin. May 

 we prove worthy servitors, guarding with jealous care 

 our trust, watchful that the vestal fires shall ever burn 

 at the shrine where we worship with a clear and steady 

 flame. 



Ever yours, faithfully, 



ELUOTT COUKS. 

 DR. J. G. COOPER, 



Acad. Nat. Sciences, 



San Francisco, Gala. 



