No. 12. — Proceedings of the Annual Meeting , May 2, 1900. 
REPORT OF THE CURATOR, ALPHEUS HYATT. 
The most notable event of the past year was the retirement of 
the Secretary, Mr. Samuel Henshaw, who resigned in order to accept 
a position in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge. 
His resignation was noticed by a formal resolution, but naturally 
this did not allude to his long and efficient services during the time 
that he was an assistant in our Museum. This gentleman’s name 
appears first in the Annual Report of 1876-77 when he took charge 
of our insects, and it occupies thereafter «. an annually increasing 
importance in the records of the Museum, until he became general 
assistant in 1883. A large part of the time from 1876 to 1883 he 
had worked for us without pay or with a merely nominal salary, 
and during those years had not only accomplished much for the 
insects which were under his charge, but had laid the Society under 
obligations for important work upon most of the other collections in 
the Museum. From 1883 to his election as Secretary in May, 1892, 
Mr. Henshaw fulfilled the duties of general assistant with excep¬ 
tional ability. His active connection with the Museum consequently 
has lasted for about twenty-three years, and his labor has been felt 
in every department and always greatly to the advantage of the 
Society. The Curator is, therefore, very glad to be able to say 
that, although his work now lies almost wholly in Cambridge, he 
still remains connected with our Museum. He has completed the 
admirable cycle of his life with us by consenting to remain in charge 
of the insects as a voluntary assistant, thus returning to the position 
with which lie began so many years ago. 
The Society has long been in need of some separate room where 
the meetings of the Council could be held, and this year, princi¬ 
pally through the efforts of the President, the northwest basement 
room was fitted up for this purpose and also furnished with a large 
blackboard and settees, so that it can be used for meetings of sec¬ 
tions of the Society, if any are formed, or by natural history clubs 
or small societies that may find it convenient to meet in our build¬ 
ing. . Improvements usually have accompanying inconveniences, 
land this one obliged the Curator to crowd the collections heretofore 
stored in two rooms in the cellar into one room and to make other 
changes that are not yet entirely completed. 
