Twenty-sixth Annual Report.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 27, 1894, Unnumbered Page

Meetings of the Board were held on the following dates: 11th July, 1893, and 15th February and 18th July, 1894. The members elected, in conformity with the Act, by the incorporated societies as Governors of the Institute are Mr. S. Percy Smith, Mr. James McKerrow, and Major-General Schaw, C.B. The members who retired from the Board, in conformity with clause 6 of the Act, are the Hon. Mr. Mantell, Mr. W. T. L. Travers, and Mr. E. Tregear; and these gentlemen have all been reappointed by His Excellency the Governor. The vacancies caused in the roll of honorary members by the death of Sir Richard Owen and Professor Van Beneden have been filled by the election of Professor Thiselton-Dyer, M.A., C.M.G., F.R.S., Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, and the Rev. Robert Henry Codrington, D.D., author of “Melanesian Languages,” &c. The members now on the roll of the Institute are: Honorary members, 30; ordinary members—Auckland Institute, 179; Wellington Philosophical Society, 134; Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 66; Otago Institute, 111; Westland Institute, 67; Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute, 94; Nelson Philosophical Society, 21: making a total of 702. The volumes of Transactions now in stock are: Vol. I. (second edition), 250; Vol. V., 20; Vol. VI., 23; Vol. VII, 110; Vol. IX., 112; Vol. X., 142; Vol. XI., 33; Vol. XII., 40; Vol. XIII., 38; Vol. XIV., 62; Vol. XV., 173; Vol. XVI., 174; Vol. XVII., 176; Vol. XVIII., 150; Vol. XIX., 163; Vol. XX., 162; Vol. XXI., 96; Vol. XXII., 96; Vol. XXIII., 175; Vol. XXIV., 178; Vol. XXV., 180; Vol. XXVI., not yet fully distributed. The volume (XXVI.) just published was issued in June, and contains seventy-three articles, together with addresses and abstracts which appear in the Proceedings. The volume contains 730 pages of letterpress and 54 plates. The following is a comparison of the contents of the present with those of last year's volume:—

1894. 1893. Pages. Pages. Miscellaneous 202 134 Zoology 258 260 Botany 88 82 Geology 76 36 Chemistry 6 Proceedings 64 50 Appendix 42 44 730 612 The amount expended in printing Vol. XXV. was £388 9s. for 612 pages, and that for Vol. XXVI. £447 19s. 6d. for 730 pages. In consequence of the large increase in the number of valuable works of reference and other scientific publications, it has been necessary to rearrange the books in the library, and to prepare a new edition of the printed catalogue. Good progress has been made with this latter work, which it is hoped will be ready for issue in a few months. The splendid presentation by Mr. C. R. Carter of publications relating to New Zealand, containing 850 separate works, has now been thoroughly arranged and encased in a manner worthy of so valuable a donation. The Honorary Treasurer's statement of accounts shows a balance in hand in current account of £96 12s. 6d. The amount devoted to printing of memoirs and postponed papers (in accordance with resolution) is now £730. Approved by Board. Glasgow, Chairman. 18th July, 1894. James Hector, Manager.