HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 



The meetings of the Section had been well attended, with advantage to its members and 

 to the Society. 



The Curator of Comparative Anatomy reported the addition to his department of 2 

 skeletons, 10 parts of skeletons, 20 skulls, 4 skins of mammals, 5 mammals in spirit, and 

 miscellaneous 3 ; total 44 specimens. The donors were Drs. C. T. Jackson, A. A. Gould, 



A. S. Packard, Jr., H. Bryant, B. J. Jeffries, S. Kneeland, and Messrs. H. Mann, C. A. 

 Kirkpatrick, J. K. Warren, and the Boston Milling and Manufacturing Company. 



The specimens belonging to the department were represented to be in good order with 

 the exception of the skins. 



The Curator of Ornithology reported the collection in good order. He stated that the 

 Lafresnaye collection, before mentioned as purchased by him for the Society, arrived safely 

 in the autumn of the previous year, and upon being unpacked had been found in perfect 

 condition. He himself had personally superintended the packing while in France. The 

 whole number of specimens received had been found to be 8,656. 



The Curator of Ichthyology reported valuable donations to the department from the 

 Smithsonian Institution, of 54 specimens of North American fishes ; from Dr. A. S. Packard, 

 Jr., of 10 species comprising about 100 specimens Labrador fishes, and from the Curator of 

 about 40 species comprising 1000 specimens from Lake Erie, and about 20 specimens from 

 Dr. B. S. Shaw, Messrs. C. J. Sprague, W. H. Dall, J. S. Lewis, Samuel Hubbard, R. C. Green- 

 leaf and Caleb Cooke. The latter presented a fine specimen of the rare Leptocephalus 

 gracilis Storer, one of six collected by him on Nahant beach. 



To the Entomological Cabinet about 600 specimens had been added, the principal donors 

 being Drs. H. Bryant, S. A. Bemis, C. F. Hildreth, A. A. Gould, C. T. Jackson, S. Kneeland, 

 Jr., C. F. Winslow, Messrs. A. K. Grote, Samuel Hubbard, S. H. Scudder and Prof. J. L. 

 Smith. 



To the collection of Crustacea 440 specimens had been added. Of these, 50 species, 

 comprising about 340 specimens, represented the Crustacean fauna of Labrador, and 25 

 species, comprising 80 specimens, that of Maine. The Worms, now united with the 

 Crustacea in the department, included 55 species, of which 30, comprising 115 speci- 

 mens, were from the coast of Labrador ; and 14, comprising 65 specimens, from Maine, 

 had been obtained by the Curator. 



The donors to the department of Crustacea and Worms, were Drs. A. S. Packard Jr., 



B. S. Shaw, A. A. Gould ; Messrs. E. R. Mayo, Samuel Hubbard, C. Stodder, F. G. San- 

 born, C. C. Sheafe ; and Captain E. Smith. 



The Conchological department had received about 1,500 specimens, many of them of 

 great value, the donors being Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., Dr. Gundlach, Dr. Henry Bryant, Dr. 

 A. Chapin, Dr. C. T. Jackson and Mr. A. Coolidge. 



The department of the Radiata had received from the Essex Institute 10 species, from 

 Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., 250 specimens, from N. Appleton 3 species, and from Yale College 

 in exchange 59 specimens, comprising 34 species. 



The Curator of Mineralogy reported the whole number of specimens on exhibition to 

 be about 2,000. The department had received donations from Drs. C. T. Jackson, 

 Henry Bryant, A. S. Packard, Jr., the Agassiz Natural History Society, Prof. Jeffries 

 Wyman, and Messrs. G. P. Huntington and W. H. Dall. 



