Mr. R. L. Ditmars presented a paper on "The Snakes 

 Found within Fifty Miles of New York City," treating of all 

 the species known to this locality and exhibiting specimens 

 — some living and some alcoholic — of the species treated. 

 [This paper is printed in full at the close of this Abstract.] 



January 14, 1 896. — Public lecture in the lecture hall of 

 the American Museum of Natural History, by Franz Boas, 

 Ph. D. ? entitled " The Indians of Vancouver Island," with 

 stereopticon illustrations. 



January 28, 1 896. — Public lecture in the lecture hall of 

 the American Museum of Natural History, by W. B. Scott, 

 Ph.D., entitled " The Origin and Distribution of North 

 American Mammals," with stereopticon illustrations. 



February 11, 1896. — The Vice-President in the chair. 

 Nine members and ten visitors present. 



Mr. L. S. Foster, as chairman of the committee on the 

 purchase and presentation to the American Museum of the 

 William Dutcher collection, reported on behalf of himself 

 and his colleagues, Mr. Woodbury G. Langdon and Mr. 

 Newbold T. Lawrence, that the collection had been pur- 

 chased and presented to the Museum on December 17, 

 1895. He also read a letter from the Board of Trustees, 

 acknowledging the gift. This collection of two thousand 

 and fifteen birdskins is to be kept separate from the regular 

 study collection of the Museum, as a purely local one, and, 

 it is anticipated, will be added to, from time to time, by the 

 members of the Society. 



Mr. William Dutcher presented skins of the following 

 birds to be transferred to the Local Collection of the 

 Museum : — Greater Snow Goose {Chen hyperborea nivalis), 

 Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis), Red-shouldered 

 Hawk (Buteo lineatus), and Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca). 

 Mr. Foster was appointed a committee of one to take 

 charge of these transfers for the future. 



Mr. A. H. Howell presented a paper entitled " Impres- 

 sions of Some of the Birds of the Northwest, with Remarks 

 on their Distribution," the result of a six months' expedition 



