•446 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 
[ 1888 . 
REPORT OF THE CONCHOLOGICAL SECTION. 
The Recorder of the Conchological Section respectfully reports 
that during the year ending Dec. 1st, 1888, the Academy has con¬ 
tinued to publish such conchological papers as have been offered. 
Two members have been elected. The loss to the section by 
•death has been the severest in its history. On January 21st, 1888, 
our honored Treasurer, Mr. Wm. L. Mactier, was called from works 
to reward, and we had hardly turned from paying our last tribute 
of respect to his memory, when we were again summoned to perform 
the same service for our beloved Conservator, the eminent Conchol- 
ogist, George W. Tryon Jr. who died February 5th, 1888, while 
jet in the prime of life. 
At a special meeting of the Section called for the purpose and 
lield February 22nd, 1888, appropriate minutes prepared by the 
Director were adopted and by direction sent to the families of the 
deceased. 
William Laurence Mactier, a member of the Academy of Natural 
^Sciences of Philadelphia since Jan. 1860, was born in the city of 
New York, May 28, 1818, and died at his home in this city Jan. 21, 
1888. 
His father, Henry Mactier, was a native of Scotland, and his 
mother, a daughter of Augustine Hicks Laurence and Catherine 
Luquer, was born in New York. 
Mr. Mactier had been prepared for admission into the College of 
New Jersey, intending after completing his general education there 
to devote himself to the medical profession. But unexpectedly, 
conclusive reasons forced him to abandon the project, and seek a 
more speedy route to a livelihood in mercantile affairs—he became 
a man of business. The extent and character of his preliminary 
education fostered in him a taste for letters which he cultivated 
during his leisure so well that the College of New r Jersey conferred 
upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. 
Mr. Mactier was one of the constituents of the Conchological Sec 
tion of the Academy; and from the date of its institution, Dec. 26, 
1866, was its treasurer. During twenty-two years he discharged all 
the duties of the office efficiently and promptly. 
He served in the Council of the Academy, and was a member of 
its Committee on Instruction and Lectures. 
He contributed $285 to the building fund, and was a member of 
the Board of Trustees thereof. 
