systems, and to give universal currency to the treasures of thought, learning, and taste, which had otherwise been confined to one language and people, is an office which has sure claims on the gratitude, though it may not challenge the admiration, of mankind. One cannot, even if he would, avoid incorporating into his own system some portion of the labors of others, whether these elements remain as they were when first announced, or have since passed out into the world as familiar principles of thought or conduct; and Cousin will probably be remembered by posterity, not as the founder of a new method or school, but as an able historian and critic of previous systems of metaphysics, and an eloquent expounder and teacher of many truths in philosophy which have long been the common heritage of mankind.

The accessions to our ranks during the past year have been unusually large, consisting of sixteen Resident and four Associate Fellows, and four Foreign Honorary Members.

In the Foreign Honorary Membership, Mr. Bentham, President of the Linnæan Society, replaces the late Professor Lindley.

M. Faye, of Paris, replaces Encke, of Berlin.

Professor Rankine, of Glasgow, was chosen in place of the late Admiral Smyth, and Henry Sumner Maine, in that of the late Dr. Whewell.

In conclusion, the Council submitted a nomination to fill the vacancy in the list of Foreign Honorary Members made by the decease of M. Cousin; also nominations to the list of Associate Fellows.

The Annual Report of the Treasurer was received, read, and ordered to be entered on the records.

Professor Lovering, as chairman of the Committee of Publication, presented the report of this Committee, accounting for expenditures in printing the Memoirs and Proceedings under the appropriations of the past year.

Professor Henck, as chairman of the Library Committee, presented the report on the condition of the Library.

A recommendation from this Committee to increase the salary of the Assistant Librarian, was referred to the Rumford Committee.

Professor Lovering presented a report from the Rumford

!

Committee, recommending an appropriation for the purchase of certain Journals and other publications. The report was accepted and 532 dollars were appropriated to the use recommended.

Mr. C. M. Warren made a brief report from the Committee to provide accommodations for the Academy.

Professor Eliot was excused from further service on this Committee, and Professor Cooke was appointed in his place. Action on the appropriations recommended by the Treasurer was postponed to an adjourned meeting.

The following gentlemen were elected members of the Academy:

Dr. C. Edward Brown-Séquard, to be a Resident Fellow in Class II. Section 3.

Commodore John Rodgers, U. S. N., to be a Resident Fellow in Class I. Section 4.

Dr. J. Lawrence Smith of Louisville, Kentucky, to be an Associate Fellow in Class I. Section 3.

Hon. Horace Binney of Philadelphia, to be an Associate Fellow in Class III. Section 1.

Hon. Daniel Lord of New York, to be an Associate Fellow in Class III. Section 1.

Major-General Sabine, President of the Royal Society, London, to be Foreign Honorary Member in Class II. Section 1, in place of the late Admiral Duperrey.

Nominations for election into the Academy were presented and read.

The annual election resulted in the choice of the following officers for the ensuing year:

ASA GRAY, President.

GEORGE T. BIGELOW, Vice-President.

WILLIAM B. ROGERS, Corresponding Secretary.

CHAUNCEY WRIGHT, Recording Secretary.

JOHN C. LEE, Treasurer.

FRANK H. STORER, Librarian.

THOMAS T. BOUVÉ, by election.

The other Standing Committees were appointed on the nomination of the President, as follows:

Five hundred and eighty-fourth Meeting.

June 11, 1867.-ADJOURNED STATUTE MEETING.

The PRESIDENT in the chair.

A portion of the Annual Report of the Council was read. Professor Lovering reported from the Rumford Committee a recommendation that 200 dollars be paid by the Treasurer, from the Rumford Fund, to Dr. Francis Dana, for services as Assistant Treasurer during the ensuing year. The recommendation was adopted.

On the motion of Professor Lovering it was voted to renew the appropriation of 500 dollars, which was made last year to complete the publication of Dr. Storer's Memoir.

The following appropriations were voted :

For General Expenses, from the General Fund

$2,100

Dr. Charles Pickering was elected a member of the Council, to fill a vacancy left at the annual election.

The following paper was communicated:

Characters of New Plants of California and Elsewhere, principally of those collected by H. N. Bolander in the State Geological Survey. By ASA GRAY.

RANUNCULUS ALISMEFOLIUS, Geyer, var. ALISMELLUS: pusillus ; caulibus subscapiformibus spithamæis; foliis tenuioribus subovatis oblongisve (pollicaribus), petiolo sæpius gracillimo. - Lake Tenayo and on Mount Dana, Sierra Nevada, to the height of 12,000 feet, Bolander. With the aspect of R. Flammula, has the ovary and style of R. alismæfolius.

RANUNCULUS ANDERSONII: R. glaciali similis, sed calyce glaberrimo, ovariis semiorbiculatis compressis immarginatis stylo nudo subulato recurvato terminatis. Planta tripollicaris, aut tota glabra, aut basi dilatata petiolorum lobisque foliorum pilis albidis deciduis parce ciliatis. Flos pollicem diametro; petalis saturate roseis; sepalis margine rubellis. Segmenta foliorum petiolulata. Near snow, on Blind Springs

Mountain in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, Dr. C. L. Anderson, 1866. The allied R. Chamissonis has the achenia winged, as much as R. glacialis.

RANUNCULUS (APHANOSTEMMA) HYSTRICULUS: glaber; radice fasciculata; foliis omnibus radicalibus reniformi-rotundatis 5-lobis crenatolobulatisque; scapis folia superantibus nudis unifloris rariusve unifoliatis bifloris; sepalis (5-6) petaloideis albis ovalibus; petalis totidem staminibus brevioribus nectariformibus, ungue longo lamina parva ovali subcarnosa basi foveolata terminato; carpellis lanceolatis tenuiter membranaceis pilosciusculis stylo subrecurvo rostratis in capitulum subglobosum hystricinum arcte digestis. Foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, at Forest Hill and at New Castle, Placer Co., April, 1865, Bolander. Also, 1866, by Mr. Rattan, a state with longer petioles (6 inches long), and scapes nearly a foot high: apparently in wet soil. Sepals nearly half an inch long, deciduous. Petals inconspicuous, 1 to 2 lines long, apparently yellow, gland-like, consisting of a minute fleshy lamina, with its base impressed with a nectariferous pit, raised on a claw of twice its length. Carpels 3 lines long when nearly full grown, remarkably slender and tapering, not striate nor margined. Ovule ascending as in Ranunculus. Nothing like this has before been met with; but the characters, as to calyx and corolla, are those of St. Hilaire's Aphanostemma, although the subulate carpels very different; so that this accession, remarkable as it is, hardly tends toward the re-establishment of that genus.

AQUILEGIA CALIFORNICA, Lindl. in Gard. Chron. 1854, p. 836, & 1857, p. 382. A. eximia, Van Houtte, Fl. des Serres, Jan. 1857, cum ic. This is common in California (is Hartweg's, no. 1635), and comes also from Oregon. In cultivation the characters do appear to be well marked. That is, the sepals are reflexed; the spurs, scarcely longer than the sepals, are much thickened at the tip, and truncate at the mouth, the limb of the petals being extremely short. But Fischer's A. formosa is intermediate between this and A. Canadensis in the relative length of the spurs and sepals, the latter widely spreading. In cultivation A. Californica comes into flower a month later than A. Canadensis.

DRABA DOUGLASII: Leucodraba; caudice multicipiti; foliis omnibus rosulatis subcartilagineis fere eveniis integerrimis margine crebre hispido-ciliatis facie aut glabris aut cum scapo aphyllo corymbosoplurifloro hirsutulis (pilis omnibus simplicibus), imis ovatis, superiori