HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 



to the collection of Coleoptera had been made from the collection of Mr. Sprague, the 

 late assistant of the Museum. The Society was permitted, in accordance with the 

 verbal request of Mr. Sprague, to select from the specimens left by him all that might 

 be valuable to its collection, and thus additions were made to it of 600 species and 2000 



specimens. 



A revision of all the New England collections at this time showed them to consist of 

 Hymenoptera, 157 species; Lepidoptera, 711 species; Coleoptera, 1810 species; Orthop- 

 tera, 59 species ; Neuroptera, 65 species. 



To Dr. Hagen the Society was indebted for a revision and identification of all the Neu- 

 roptera, and to Mr. Burgess for the revision and identification of the Diptera of the Harris 

 collection. The entire Harris collection had been transferred to the new style of boxes, 

 and was considered safe from the ravages of Anthreni. It is due to Mr. Henshaw to state 

 that he voluntarily gave professional labor in the department of Entomology, equal to 

 about seven hours daily during the year, the means of the Society not enabling it to ade- 

 quately compensate him for his services. 



The alcoholic collection of Reptiles had been sent to the Museum of Comparative Zool- 

 ogy for identification by Mr. Garman, who had kindly consented to examine and name 

 them. It was understood too, that under the instruction of Mr. Alexander Agassiz, the 

 director, he would add such species from the duplicates of the Museum as were needed in 

 the collection of the Society. Mr. Garman had already been instrumental in increasing 

 our collection of fishes in the same manner, and the Society had to some extent recipro- 

 cated the favor by sparing specimens from its duplicates. 



The Custodian closed his remarks upon the collections of the Museum by stating that 

 there was now a New England collection in every department, and that there was a great 

 need of a new gallery around the main hall, which should be devoted exclusively to the 

 New England department, so that a visitor could see arranged in one continuous series all 

 the natural products of New England. It is certainly a matter to be deeply regretted that 

 the Society has not since been able to put up such a gallery as suggested by the Custodian. 



From the Secretary's Report, the following is given : to the Library there had been 

 added of volumes, 357 ; parts of volumes, 977 ; pamphlets, 188; maps, charts and pho- 

 tographs, 98 ; making 1620 accessions in all. Nothing had been done in binding for want 

 of the necessary means. The use of the Library seemed to be regularly increasing. Dur- 

 ing the year 1019 books had been borrowed by 119 persons. 



The publications of the Society had been considerably less than during previous years. 

 Two parts, concluding Vol. XVIII, of the Proceedings, had been issued, and the first part 

 of Vol. XIX was in press. Of the Memoirs, the second part of Prof. Hyatt's Revision of 

 North American Poriferae was in press. 



The meetings of the Society had been well attended, and the interest in the commun- 

 ications presented well sustained. In consequence of the formation of the Boston Micro- 

 scopical Society, the section of Microscopy had been given up. The section of Entomol- 

 ogy had held monthly meetings, with a small but regular attendance. 



The Section of Botany formed within the year had held bi-monthly meetings, and these 

 had been fairly attended. 



During the year four Corresponding Members, six Resident, under the old Constitution, 

 and twenty-five Associate Members under the new Constitution, had been elected. 



