INTRODUCTION. 



THE Wagner Free Institute of Science was founded by the late 

 William Wagner, a citizen of Philadelphia, who devoted a long lifetime 

 to the study and advancement of the sciences, especially the different 

 branches of natural history. Mr. Wagner, during his life, formed a large 

 museum, a library and a collection of chemical and physical apparatus. 

 He established annual courses of lectures on various scientific subjects, 

 in which he personally took an active part, which were continued for 

 thirty years, and which were always open free to the public. In 1855, 

 under the above name, the Institute was incorporated by an act of the 

 Legislature. 



Mr. Wagner bequeathed his property to the Institute, vested in a 

 Board of Trustees. Since his death in January, 1885, the Trustees have 

 been actively engaged in carrying out his plans, and, in accordance with 

 his views, have elected a faculty of four professors, to take charge of the 

 museum and library, to give lectures free to the public, and to teach the 

 method of, and also to make, research. The first annual course of free 

 lectures was given by the faculty during the season of 1885 and 1886. 

 The sphere of usefulness of the Institute will expand as the pecuniary 

 circumstances are adjusted and will permit That the benefits of the 

 Institute shall not be restricted to its locality, but may be widespread as 

 possible, the Trustees propose to make provision in aid of original research 

 and the publication of its results, towards the increase and diffusion ot 

 knowledge among men. 



Mr. Joseph Willcox, one of the Trustees, who had spent several suc- 

 cessive winters in Florida, in speaking of his observations in that State, 

 suggested the interest it would be to the Institute and to science to make 



