220) [ DecEMBER, 
while sight and hearing place external things in relation with us, it is yoice 
which places us in relation with external things. 
The Journal of the Proceedings, and the Journal of the Academy, are the 
vocal organs, the voice of the Institution, through the medium of which all the 
facts it acquires, and all the opinions it forms, are promulgated. These publi- 
cations are a sure means of making known the results of our investigations and 
studies, and, consequently, our existence as a corporate body. Through them 
alone the Academy is placed in communication with analogous Institutions at 
distant points of our own country and in foreign lands. To these publications 
the Academy is indebted for its reputation, a wide-spread appreciation of its 
importance, and also for much of what is contained in the Library and in the 
Museum. 
While we refer with satisfaction to the quantity and quality of information 
placed on record and printed in the Proceedings, and may be excused, perhaps, 
for believing that this journal is not surpassed, if equalled by any similar 
publication in the United States, it may be well to disclose the fact that it does 
not receive, even from members of the Academy, all the substantial support 
and encouragement which are necessary to its prosperity. 
When it is known that the subscription price of a copy of the Proceedings 
for a year is only one dollar, it is hoped this statement will be sufficient to 
cause every member to contribute towards diminishing the charge upon the 
Treasury, by becoming a subscriber himself, and by inducing others to subscribe 
whenever proper opportunity offers. 
The whole is submitted, on behalf of the Committee on Proceedings, 
W. S. W. RuscHENBERGER. 
fall of the Academy, Dec. 28, 1852. 
Dr. Fisher, from the Committee on Mammalogy, reported that 128 
skins of mammalia had been mounted and added to the collection, 
at an expense of $289, which had been defrayed by the following 
named members: Edward Harris, J. Price Wetherill, Charles D. 
Meigs, John K. Mitchell, George W. Carpenter, William 8S. Vaux, 
Joseph Carson, Jos. Pancoast, P. B. Goddard, Robert Pearsall, Wm. E. 
Horner, Isaac Lea, ‘Thos. D. Miitter, George B. Wood, Wm. Parker 
Foulke, Charles Lennig, Thos. B. Wilson, W. 8. W. Ruschenberger, 
B. H. Coates, Samuel Ashmead, R. EH. Peterson, R. Bridges, Jas. C. 
Fisher. 
Dr. Woodhouse requested that the following correction be published 
ra the Proceedings : 
Having discovered that the specific name dorsalis, which I applied to 
the squirrel brought by me from New Mexico, and which I described in 
the Proceedings of the Academy for June last (page 110,) has already 
been applied by J. H. Gray to one of the same genus, I propose now 
to call it Scrurus ApeErtTt, after Colonel J. J. Abert, chief of the corps 
of Topographical Engineers, U. 8. Army, to whose exertions science is 
much indebted. 
