Annual Meeting.] 186 [May 2, 



Annual Meeting. May 2, 1877. 



The President, Mr. T. T. Bouve, in the chair. Twenty- 

 six persons present. 



The following reports were presented by the Custodian, 

 Secretary, and Treasurer : — 



Report of Prof. Hyatt, Custodian. 



The official year has been characterized by no event of 

 great importance, except the changes made in the By-Laws 

 with regard to the admission of women to the privileges of 

 the Society, and the division of Members into two classes. 

 These changes, however, have already been fully recorded 

 in the Proceedings of the Society, and the time which has 

 elapsed since they went into operation has been too short to 

 enable us to draw any conclusion as to their general effect. 



An additional room has been fitted up, with the new style 

 of brackets and cases, for the reception, especially, of the 

 birds and mammals of the Systematic Collection. An im- 

 portant improvement has also been made by the establish- 

 ment of telegraphic connection with the Fire Engine House 

 on Dartmouth Street, so that in case of fire we can ring a 

 bell in that building, and have the engines here within 

 a few minutes after the alarm. 



teachers' school of science. 



This has been continued, as in previous years, by the lib- 

 erality of Mr. Cummings. The course was given by Prof. 

 Goodale, of Harvard College, and comprised twenty-one 

 lessons in morphological, physiological and systematic Bot- 

 any. 



Each lesson was, as usual, illustrated by specimens, which 

 were distributed to the pupils. The analysis of the flowers 

 and the determination of the peculiarities of floral structure 

 were considered by Prof. Goodale a very important part of 



