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Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



To section I, acticle vi., as amended : 



"And a non-member shall not be allowed to read a paper be- 

 fore this Society, unless especially invited to do so by the Society 

 or the Executive Board." 



Adopted May, 1884. 



All of which is respectfully submitted. 



Davis L. James, Secretary. 



REPORT OF THE CUSTODIAN FOR THE YEAR ENDING APRIL 7, 1 88 5. 



To the President and Members of the Cincinnati Society of Natural 

 History : 



Your Custodian begs leave to make the following report for the 

 year just closed. 



The several curators have, in their reports, enumerated the num- 

 ber of specimens added in their respective departments during the 

 year. With a few exceptions these specimens have been placed 

 in the general collection, and have been catalogued. The same 

 method of cataloguing has been continued as that mentioned in my 

 last report ; namely, that of entering in an accession list, such speci- 

 mens as have been placed in the museum. This method, though 

 it entails considerable work, is perhaps the best that can be devised. 

 A catalogue arranged in alphabetical order is inconvenient, because 

 it does not allow additions to be readily made. But when a gen- 

 eral list is kept, in which all specimens are numbered, and where 

 all facts regarding them are recorded, the number on the specimen, 

 be it 25 or 3,756, refers to the list, where its character, the locality 

 from whence it has come, and the name of the donor or the source 

 from which it was derived, can all be readily found. So, too, if 

 from any cause the label is lost, or misplaced, a reference to the 

 numbered list tells where the specimen belongs and what it is. 

 This sort of a list, however, does not do away with the necessity 

 for a card catalogue, because it is by means of this last, which 

 serves as an index to any department, that can be ascertained at a 

 moment's notice, whether or not a certain species is to be found in 

 the Society's collection. 



The work of cataloguing the general collection has been con- 



