CX VII 



Evening meetings have been held on the second and 

 fourth Mondays of each month for the first part of the 

 winter, and the first and third Mondays afterwards, at the 

 rooms of the Institute, commencing in October and clos- 

 ing with the annual meeting in May. The large number 

 attending these meetings calls for a more commodious 

 meeting room at as early a day as practicable. 



The Lecture Committee, having adopted the plan of 

 having courses of lectures on special subjects and of an 

 educational character, delivered to appreciative audiences, 

 in lieu of the more extended courses of a miscellaneous 

 character of former years, made arrangements with Messrs. 

 Putnam and Tracy, who have taken the initiative, and the 

 committee trust that this plan will be adopted in other 

 branches. 



F. W. Putnam, on the five Thursday evenings in 

 March, delivered a course of lectures on "Insects, their 

 habits and structure," at Lyceum hall, under the auspices 

 of the Institute, which were very instructive and were well 

 attended by highly appreciative and intelligent audiences. 

 At the close of the course the following resolution, moved 

 by Prof. A. Crosby and seconded by Gen. H. K. Oliver, 

 was unanimously adopted : 



" Resolved: That we express to Mr. Putnam our high 

 appreciation of the valuable and interesting Course of 

 Lectures he has just completed; and the personal thanks 

 and obligations of our community to him for these labors 

 • in the cause of science and public improvement, especially 

 in view of his generous appropriation of the greater part 

 of the proceeds to the benefit of the Museum of the Essex 

 Institute." 



Cyrus M. Tracy of Lynn has delivered two of a series 

 of eight lectures on Botany at the rooms of the Institute 

 on the two preceding Saturday afternoons. 



