VASSAE BROTHERS INSTITUTE. 9 



One egg of the emeu, Holland. 

 One porcupine fish — diodon hystrix, West Indies. 

 One sea feather — gorgonia sp. ? 

 One yellow coral, one sponge, West Indies. 



Two echinoderms, one triton, one unnamed sea-shell from the West 

 Indies. 



Considerable progress has been made in naming, ar- 

 ranging and catalogueing the specimens. For the latter 

 purpose a set of large and substantial books has been 

 prepared. This labor is, however, a task of much magni- 

 tude, and a large part of it lies yet in the future. It has 

 been found necessary to manipulate all of the mounted 

 specimens with much care, in such a way as to stoj) the 

 ravages of insects which were destroying them. 



It has been impossible for your curator to do much 

 more personally than to attend to the naming of speci- 

 mens. For the rest of the work above mentioned, the 

 society is indebted to the very able and dilligent services 

 of the assistant curator, Dr. Stevenson. 

 Mr. Frank L. Moore, librarian, reported as follows : 

 The library has been augmented during the past year 

 by the receipt of 170 pamphlets and 57 bound volumes. 

 The individual contributors of the year are Messrs. H. 

 L Ziegenfuss, J. H. Ketcham, J. I. Piatt, E. P. Carpen- 

 ter, T. A. Leister, George Corlies, E. Osborn, Dr. Bockee, 

 Thomas Newbold and Mrs. Whitehouse. The pub- 

 lications that have been received from various scientific 

 societies and state departments will be reported by the 

 secretary. 



The shelving has been handsomely extended during 

 the past year. They are now lettered and numbered 

 after the most approved methods, and the books are ju- 

 diciously distributed and located thereon. The card 

 system, adopted a year ago, is completed, and every book 

 is accessible by the easiest methods of search. 



The secretary, W. G. Stevenson, M.D., presented the 

 following annual report : 



