Annual Meeting.] 
12 
[May 2, 
In the death of Prof. Spencer F. Baird, secretary of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, and Prof. Asa Gray, we have to mourn the loss 
of our most distinguished honorary members. 
Meetings. 
There have been held fourteen general meetings and one special 
meeting during the past jmar. At the beginning of the year a prop- 
osition was made to hold a single meeting every month instead of 
two, but after discussion this plan was abandoned. The meetings in 
October were, however, omitted, by an earlier vote of the Society. 
The average attendance has been forty-four, the largest ninety 
and the smallest fifteen. These figures are encouraging as they 
indicate an increased interest in the meetings. During 1886-87 
when the regular attendance was about the same as during the 
last five years, the average attendance was twenty-seven, the larg- 
est seventy-six and the smallest seven. 
It is also to be remembered that several meetings of l^he past 
year came on the same evenings as lectures given in aid of the Ma- 
rine Biological Laboratory. As many of the most active members 
of the Society were especially interested in these lectures it neces- 
sarily diminished the attendance at our meetings on these even- 
ings. Notwithstanding this fact, however, at no meeting were the 
numbers so small as at some of the meetings last year, and at most 
of them the attendance was much above the average for 1886-87. 
Twenty-nine communications were made to the Society as an- 
nounced by cards. Four papers have been presented by title. Nu- 
merous verbal unannounced communications have also been made. 
A special meeting was held on March 28, to consider a vote of 
the council in regard to a Natural History Garden and Aquaria to 
be under the direction of the Society. The subject was enthusiasti- 
cally discussed and the action of the council unanimously approved. 
Library. 
The additions to the library number as follows : 
8 vo. 
4to. 
Fol. 
Total, 
Volumes, 
195 
43 
1 
239 
Parts, 
1,329 
391 
29 
1,749 
Pamphlets, 
178 
24 
* 3 
205 
Maps, 
19 
19 
2,212 
