XXI 



By-Laws, submitted the first reading of the amendments to the 

 Constitution to be acted upon at the annual meeting, 



Mr. Putnam read a communication from A. S. Packard Jr. 

 of Brunswick, Me., entitled "The Humble Bees of New Eng- 

 land, and their parasites, with notices of a new species of An- 

 thophorabia, and a new genus of Proctotrupidse." Referred to 

 the Publication Committee. 



The subject which occupied a portion of the last meeting, and 

 which had engrossed the attention of the Literary and Historical 

 Societies during the past week, the ter-centenary birth day of 

 Shakespeare, was resumed, remarks being made by the chair, 

 Messrs. Wildes, Beaman and others. 



John Kilburn of Salem was elected a Resident Member. 



Monday May 2. Evening Meeting. 

 Vice President, A. C. Gooclell Jr., in the chair. 



Donations to the Cabinets and Library were announced. 



Letters were read, from Henry Saltonstall of Boston, Justin 

 Rideout of Boston, L. Saltonstall of Newton, and the Post- 

 master of Boston, on business matters ; from the Misses Derby, 

 relating to a donation of books to the Library ; from the Mass. 

 Historical Society, acknowledging the receipt of publications ; 

 from John Kilburn, accepting membership. 



A variety of May-flowers having been placed upon the table, 

 and the subject of May-day festivals having been alluded to, the 

 Chair remarked that the return of another May-day, with its 

 accompanying festivities, invites us to consider the pleasant 

 change now working in the public mind of New England with 

 regard to the observance of this ancient holiday of our Mother- 

 land. 



The very name of May, not less than the practices used to 

 usher in the month, runs- back into the obscurity of antiquity. 

 The poet Ovid, whose surmise has been generally adopted, de- 

 rives it from the names of several Roman deities, among whom 

 is the fair Maia, the mother of Mercury. But there are. on 



