BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 207 



The Treasurer's account for the year showed that the income applicable for the general 

 purposes of the Society had not come up to the estimate made at its commencement, and 

 that the expenditures had been about three hundred dollars in excess of such income. 

 As, however, insurance on the property had been paid for five years in advance, the 

 spirit of the policy not to expend beyond the income had been adhered to. There had 

 been an excess of all receipts over expenditures of $835.90, all of which and probably 

 more it would be necessary to reserve for prize and other special expenses in accordance 

 with the conditions attached to the use of the Walker Fund. 



At the election of officers but few changes were made, and these only in the Com- 

 mittees on the departments of the Museum. M. E. Wadsworth was chosen on the Min- 

 eral Committee instead of L. S. Burbank, Rev. G. Frederick Wright on the Geological 

 Committee instead of T. Sterry Hunt, W. F. Whitney, M. D., was added to the Com- 

 mittee on Comparative Anatomy, C. 0. Whitman was chosen on the Committee of Mol- 

 lusks, in place of L. Lincoln Thaxter, and E. L. Mark in place of Dr. J. B. S. Jackson, 

 deceased. 



At the meeting of the Council following the general annual meeting of the Society, 

 the trustees presented their estimate of the probable income of the Society, applicable for 

 general purposes for the ensuing year, as $8538.16. As a portion of the income for 

 special uses, amounting to several hundred dollars, might be expended for general pur- 

 poses, they recommended that $8800 be appropriated for expenditure, not well perceiving 

 how less could be used without detriment to the interests of the Society. 



Walker Prizes. The subject proposed for this year was " The structure, history, and 

 development of some cryptogamous plant." One essay was presented, but it was not 

 deemed worthy of a prize, and no award was therefore made. 



In October the Woman's Educational Association having requested the use of the lec- 

 ture room of the Society for botanical lectures on Mondays and Fridays, the Council 

 granted the request upon the condition that the expense of heating the room, and of the 

 janitor's services, should be paid by the Association. The Council appointed at this time 

 committees to act upon special matters as follows : On the grand Walker Prize, soon to 

 be awarded, Professor Wm. B. Rogers, Professor Goodale, and Colonel Theodore Lyman ; 

 oh tablets to be placed in the entrance hall of the Museum, commemorative of its great 

 benefactors, Rev. Robert C. Waterston, Edward Burgess, and Alpheus Hyatt. 



The Council also voted that the President appoint a committee to consider and report 

 upon a plan for the reception of the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, that body having decided to meet in Boston the coming summer. 



In November, the Council granted to Mr. L. S. Burbank permission to use the lecture 

 room of the Society for a course of geological lectures, he paying only such expenses as 

 might be incurred for janitor's services, etc. 



In December, a vote was passed by the Council authorizing the Committee on Publi- 

 cation to attempt the publication of an illustrated quarto volume of the Memoirs as a 

 part of the Society's celebration of the semi-centennial anniversary of its foundation, 

 by soliciting subscriptions for such memoirs at ten dollars per copy. The committee was 

 also authorized to begin to prepare and arrange for the publication when live hundred 

 dollars were subscribed. 



