BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 133 



Grcenlcaf, F. W. Putman, W. H. Niles, T. M. Brewer, W. T. Brigham, J. D. Runkle and 

 Thomas T. Bouve". Upon balloting, it was found that Mr. Alpheus Hyatt was elected 

 Custodian and Mr. Swan, Librarian and Recording Secretary, the majority of the members 

 thus electing two officers to fill the three positions, instead of one as hitherto. One objec- 

 tion to this was the largely increased expense thereby incurred, but the result was gener- 

 ally satisfactory. 



The Committees chosen for the several departments were as follows : 



On Birds. On Mollusks. 



Thomas M. Brewer, M. D., Edward S. Morse, 



Samuel Cabot, M. D., John Cummings, 



J. A. Allen. Levi L. Thaxter. 



On Fishes and Reptiles. On Palaeontology. 



D. Humphreys Stover, M. D., W. H. Niles, 



F. W. Putnam, N. S. Shaler, 



N. E. Atwood. Thomas T. Bouve. 



On Insects. On Botany. 



F. G. Sanborn, William T. Brigham, 



A. S. Packard, Jr., M. D., ^Charles J. Sprague, 

 Edward Burgess. J. Amory Lowell. 



On Crustacea and Radiates. On Minerals and Geology. 



A. S. Packard, Jr., M. D., Thomas T. Bouve, 



A. E. Verrill, Charles T. Jackson, M. D., 



Alexander Agassiz. William T. Brigham. 



The election of Committees for the departments of Comparative Anatomy, Mammals and 

 Microscopy was postponed to allow time for further consideration. 



The fourth decade of the existence of the Society was now completed. It had been a 

 period of great events in its history. Its commencement found the country involved in a 

 war which, by rapidly wasting its resources, threatened alike its material prosperity and 

 its progress in art, science and literature. There was sadness in the hearts of men and an 

 undefined dread of evil pervading their minds, tending to concentrate all thought upon the 

 movements of armies and the tidings of conflict. Thank God, too, there was an unfalter- 

 ing faith in the final success of the struggle for the nation's integrity, which kept alive 

 hope and encouraged exertion for the advancement of all movements promising future 

 good to the community. Thus was it that in the midst of a dreadful civil war the Society 

 was enabled, through the untiring devotion of its own members ;md by the exertions, the 

 contributions and bequests of many friends, to erect the fine structure that now adorns the 

 city, and to place therein the great collections of natural history that now minister to 

 the delight and the instruction of multitudes. 



In referring to the period of the civil war, it may not be amiss to state that besides the 

 members of the Society mentioned as having resigned their official positions in it to enter 

 the service of their country, there were several others who took an active part in the con- 

 flict. Among them was one whose great interest in the welfare of our institution for 



