1901.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 755 
room, relieving for the present the pressure on some of the more 
crowded sections of the periodicals. The growth of the library 
in this department, as indeed in all the others, is likely to be so 
rapid in the future, in view of the comparatively liberal appro¬ 
priations which can now be made, that the question of additional 
shelving and room for its accommodation will soon become a press¬ 
ing one. Another important need is a case for the arrangement 
and storage of maps, the necessity of which was brought to the 
attention of the Academy as early as 1889. 
Among the more important accessions of the past year have been 
a number of early sets of journals secured from the catalogues of 
second-hand dealers. As the Academy has special reason to set 
store by what is believed to be its well-nigh unequaled collection of 
journals and transactions, it is desirable that desiderata be secured 
as promptly as possible, as the opportunities of doing so are yearly 
becoming fewer because of the very liberal means at the disposal 
of many scientific libraries recently started and the vigor of their 
administration. The Academy has had the advantage of being 
early in the field, and, though having no means of its own for many 
years, the devotion of William Maclure and Thomas B. Wilson 
secured for it bibliographical treasures which can do longer be 
bought. 
A list of the serials now received in exchange or subscribed for 
is appended. 
The works on Philology have been selected from the Meigs 
Library and from the department of Anthropology, and now form 
a separate section containing 296 volumes. 
The card catalogue is being carefully revised and certain un¬ 
avoidable duplications and irregularities are being corrected. 
A portrait of the late Thomas Meehan, in oil, by James L. 
Wood, was presented by Mr. Charles Roberts in May. While it 
has distinct value as a work of art, it forms a most desirable 
memorial of the senior Vice-President, whose recent death is 
referred to elsewhere. 
Dr. John G. LeConte presented a crayon portrait of Mr. Charles 
E.- Smith, a benefactor whose death was announced last year. 
The picture has been placed in the herbarium. 
The present extent of the library, determined by a careful 
count, is as follows: 
