[i8 9 i. 
301 
[Annual Meeting 
several copies of the rare signatures of old Proceedings to 
our small number of duplicates. These gifts have resulted 
from a circular sent out at the beginning of the year, ask- 
ing members to favor us with Society publications which 
they did not wish. The Librarian is confident that the num- 
ber of our duplicates could be much enlarged by adopting a 
similar plan in the future. 
The Publication Committee have this year made a new con- 
tract with our printer, and our work for the present will be 
done in Cambridge. It is expected that the mechanical part 
of the work will still keep up to the high character of that 
done in the past by the Salem Press. 
Walker Prizes. 
The Walker Prize Committee presented the following sub- 
jects for competition during the past year : 
1 . An Original Investigation in Relation to the Develop- 
ment of any Plant or Animal. 
2. Comparative Study of the Habits of two or more nearly 
allied Species of Terrestrial Vertebrates. 
3. Original Investigation on the Physiology of Flight. 
The Secretary deemed it best near the close of the year to 
call the attention of the Council to his intention to resign his 
official position. Increased routine work in the department 
under his charge had so limited his time for study that he was 
unable to carry on researches which he had undertaken and in 
which he had come to be profoundly interested. At the request 
of the Council the present incumbent has continued to perform 
the duties of his office to the close of the year. 
The Council appointed Mr. Samuel Dexter as Assistant Secre- 
tary, by whom a share of the work in the department has been 
performed during the last month. In voluntarily withdrawing 
his name as a candidate for re-election, the Secretary desires to 
thank the Society for the many honors conferred upon him and 
to express his willingness to give what time he can in the future 
to aid in the advancement of the work of the Society. 
