Annual Meeting.] 
276 
[May 6 , 
Polypetalae contain 10098 specimens, representing 81 orders, 
1116 genera and 6440 species. 
Gamopetalae contain 108252 specimens, representing 43 orders, 
1111 genera and 5468 species. 
Apetalae contain 1965 specimens, representing 34 orders, 286 
genera and 1247 species. 
Gymnosperms are represented by 3 orders, 17 genera, 59 spe- 
cies and 109 specimens. Endogens contain 4729 specimens, 
representing 30 orders, 508 genera and 2312 species. 
Sum total of Phaenogamous plants : 25153 specimens, repre- 
senting 191 orders, 3038 genera, and 15526 species. 
Considerable work has also been done on the Lowell Herbarium 
in revising and poisoning the plants. 
The following accessions are hereby acknowledged : 
George E. Stone, seven specimens of New England plants ; 
Miss Cora H. Clarke, fifteen specimens of algae ; Robert T. Jack- 
son, one hundred and ninety specimens of European plants, 
chiefly ferns and Alpine plants. It is a pleasure to note that the 
number of persons who consult the herbarium for study and 
reference is continually on the increase. 
Synoptic Collection. 
Early in October Miss J. M. Arms accepted the position of 
Assistant in the Museum, and this collection was assigned to 
her care for the purpose of completing the series on exhibition 
and ultimately writing a guide. The synoptic collection is 
intended, like the rest of our collections, to represent those obvi- 
ously natural relations of forms which can be illustrated by series 
of animals and explanatory drawings and microscopic prepara- 
tions. 
The special object of the work done this year has been the 
arrangement of characteristic forms of the Protozoa according to 
the principles of a natural classification, beginning with the 
most primitive organisms in each group and passing to the sec- 
ondary or specialized forms in the same series. In attempting to 
do this it became desirable to illustrate by drawings the possible 
origin of the nucleus, and its subsequent differentiations among 
the higher Protozoa, the general relations of the Protozoa to the 
cells of the tissues in the Metazoa and so on. The amount of 
