BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 51 



The Curator of Ichthyology reported that the collection of this department was not in 

 good condition, owing to the losses produced by the ravages of insects and the means 

 used to eradicate them. To Capt. N. E. Atwood the Society was indebted for several fine 

 specimens, two of which were of genera new to the waters of Massachusetts. 



The Reports upon other departments were too meagre of information to call for notice 

 here. 



The same board of officers was elected, except that Dr. S. L. Abbot was chosen Record- 

 ing Secretary, Waldo I. Burnett Curator of Entomology, W. O. Ayres of Ichthyology, 

 Dr. Jeffries Wyman of Herpetology, and Dr. Wm. Reed of Conchology. 



The annual address was delivered by Dr. D. Humphreys Storer, and was a very inter- 

 esting historical sketch of the origin and growth of the Society up to that period. 

 Dr. Storer availed himself of the opportunity to acknowledge the indebtedness of the 

 Society to its numerous friends and benefactors, who at all times had been ready with a 

 liberal hand to supply its wants and promote its interests, until by a crowning act of mu- 

 nificence it had been furnished with a building in every respect suited to its wants. He 

 urged with great earnestness upon the members the duty of making redoubled efforts in 

 the cause of science. 



This address, of which the record gives the aboye, account, was listened to with great 

 attention by a crowded audience. The thanks of the Society were voted to Dr. Storer for 

 it, and he was asked to furnish a copy for publication. It is to be regretted that he neither 

 did this nor preserved the original manuscript, as there was undoubtedly much in it of 

 historical value. 



From the time that the Society took possession of its new apartments there was an 

 increased interest shown on the part of the members, both in attendance upon its meetings 

 and in work upon the collections. The room of meeting, that of the Library, 1 was a cosy 

 one, and in the afternoons some of the Curators were generally to be found there engaged 

 in the examination and study of specimens, or arranging them on tablets. Here the Cu- 

 rator of Botany might often, for years, have been found at work upon the Herbarium, and 

 the Curator of Geology, then embracing Palaeontology, striving in vain perhaps to obtain 

 some knowledge of fossils, of which little could be learned, for want of the necessary 

 books. 



1849. At the annual meeting this year, the figures given, showing the extent of the 

 collections, are repeated here. Several of the Curators as usual, omit a statement. 

 The department of Mineralogy had been increased by the addition of 542 specimens, mak- 

 ing the whole number now about 1450. Of those received, about 200 had been presented 

 by Francis Alger, the remainder by several donors. The collection of insects was 

 reported as containing 14,000 specimens comprising about 4,000 species. J. M. Bethune, 

 Esq., had presented 540 species from the vicinity of Boston, and Dr. T. W. Harris G70 

 species. Great pains had been taken to exclude Dermestes and Anthreni, and to repair 

 the ravages already made by them. The collection of birds had been increased 

 by several donations, and now numbered somewhat over a thousand specimens, effect- 

 ually secured against the attacks of insects. 



The department of Ichthyology had received donations from Dr. 1). Humphreys 



1 The use of the Library room was sometimes granted to Desor was thus permitted to occupy it two evenings in a 

 members of the Society who wished to lecture. Mr. week, for a course delivered by him in the fall of is is. 



