THE JOURNAL

VOL. III. CINCINNATI, APRIL, 188O. No. 1.

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE CINCINNATISOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY.

ADOPTED MARCH 2, 1880.*

ARTICLE I.

The Society shall be called the Cincinnati Society of Natural History.

ARTICLE II.

It shall consist of resident, corresponding and honorary members.

ARTICLE III.

Any person residing in the City of Cincinnati, or its immediateneighborhood, shall be eligible as a resident member of the society.All members shall be chosen by ballot, after having been nominated ata preceding meeting. The affirmative votes of three fourths of themembers present shall be necessary to a choice. The nomination ofcorresponding and honorary members shall proceed from the executive

* At the regular meeting of the Society, December 2, 1879, on motion of Dr. J. F. Judge,a committee of three, consisting of Dr. J. F. Judge, G. W. Harper, and S. A. Miller, wasappointed to revise the Constitution and By-Laws of the Society. This committee reportedtheir revision to the Society, at the regular meeting, on January 6th, 1880- It was orderedto be printed and made the special order of business for the Februar5r and March meetings.At the meeting of February 3d, 1880, the Constitution, as reported, was read and amended ,and passed by a three fourths' vote of all the members present. It was again taken up atthe regular meeting of March 2d, 1880, and adopted by the necessary vote of the members ofthe Society.

CINCINNATI MUSEUM OFNATURAL HISTORY LIBRARY.

CINCINNATI SOCIETY OF NATURAL H I T .

l2 Cincinnati Society of Natural History.

board. Any resident member who shall at one time contribute fifty(50) dollars to the funds of the society, shall be a life member, freefrom assessment.

AKTICLE IV.

Resident members only shall be entitled to vote, or to hold office.Corresponding and honorary members may attend the meetings andtake part in the scientific discussions of the society.

ARTICLE V.

SECTION 1. The officers of the society shall be a president, two vice-presidents, a secretary, a treasurer, a librarian, curators, and four (4)members elected at large for the executive board, and two trustees asprovided for in Section 3 of this article. They shall be elected annu-ally, at the meeting in April, and shall hold office for the term of oneyear, and until their successors are duly elected.

'SEC. 2. The president, two vice-presidents, secretary and treasurer,and the four (4) members elected at large for the executive board,shall together constitute a board for the management of the concernsof the society, not otherwise provided for in this constitution, and becalled the executive board. Five (5) members of the board shall be aquorum for the transaction of business.

SEC. 3. Two trustees shall be elected at the next annual meet-ing, one of whom shall hold office for the term of one year, and theother for two years, and thereafter there shall be elected annually onetrustee who shall hold his office for two years: and these two trus-tees, together with the treasurer of the society, shall be intrusted withand have charge of, all funded property of the society, with power tosell and re-invest according to their judgment. Bonds shall be re-quired of these trustees, in such sums, and with such sureties, as maybe satisfactory to the executive board; but the treasurer shall not berequired to give bond both as treasurer and as trustee.

ARTICLE VI.

Officers shall be chosen by ballot, and a majority of votes shall besufficient for a choice.

ARTICLE VII.

By-Laws for the more particular regulation of the society shallfrom time to time be made.

ARTICLE VIII.

This Constitution may be altered or amended in any of the preced-ing articles by a vote to that effect of three fourths of the members

Constitution and By-Laws of the Society. 3

present at any two consecutive meetings of the society, the membershaving been first duly notified of any proposed alteration, but thearticle which immediately follows this shall be unalterable.

AKTICLE IX.

The consent of every member shall be necessary to a dissolution ofthe society. In case of a dissolution the property of the society shallnot be distributed among the members of the society, but donors mayclaim and receive such donations as they have made to the museum,and the remainder shall be given to some public institution, on suchconditions as may then be agreed on, and the faithful performance ofsuch conditions shall be secured by bonds, with sufficient penalties forthe non-fulfillment thereof.

BY-LAWS.*

ARTICLE I. MEMBERS.

SECTION 1. Nominations for membership shall be made in writing,by three (3) members, at least one month previous to the time of elec-tion. Such nominations shall be referred to a committee, consisting ofthe president, secretary and treasurer, who shall report upon the samebefore balloting. Every person elected a resident member shall, withinsix months from the date of his election, pay into the treasury an initi-ation fee of five (5) dollars, and subscribe an obligation promising toconform to the Constitution and By-Laws of the society ; and, untilthese conditions are fulfilled, he shall possess none of the rights ofmembership, nor shall his name be borne upon the roll of members.

SEC. 2. Corresponding members shall consist of persons residing ata distance from the city, who may be interested in the study ofnatural history, or desirous of promoting the interests of the society.Honorary members may be selected from persons eminent for theirattainments in science, on whom the society mixy wish to confer a com-pliment of respect: neither shall be required to pay an initiation feeor make any contribution.

SEC. 3. No person whose application for membership has been re-jected, shall be again pi*oposed within one year of the date of said re-jection.

SEC. 4. Any member may withdraw from the society by presentinghis written resignation, and paying all arrearages due from him. Mem-

* At the meeting of March 2, 1880, the 1st Article of these By-Laws was considered incommittee of the whole. At a special meeting of the Society, March 30, 1880. the By-Lawswere adopted.

4 Cincinnati Society of Natural History.

bers who shall be in arrears for the dues of one year shall not be en-titled to vote, hold office or to receive any of the publications of thesociety until such arrearages are fully paid: and if not paid withinone year thereafter, membership shall be forfeited.

SEC. 5. Members may be expelled from the society by a vote ofthree fourths of the members present at a regular meeting, writtencharges having been preferred, a copy of which shall be furnished theaccused at least one month previous to such vote, and the accused shallhave opportunity to be heard thereon.

ARTICLE II. OFFICERS AND THEIR DUTIES.

SECTION 1. The President shall preside at the meetings of thesociety, and of the executive board, and perform such other duties asusually pertain to the office.

SEC. 2. The Vice-Presidents shall perform the duties of the presi-dent in his absence, in the order of seniority in office.

SEC. 3. The Secretary shall record and preserve correct minutes ofthe proceedings of the society, and the executive board, in books to bekept for that purpose; shall have the charge of all records belongingto the society; shall notify members of their election, and committeesof their appointment; shall call special meetings, when directed b}' thepresident; and shall notify all resident members of all meetings, andofficers of all matters which shall occur at any meeting requiring theiraction. He shall also conduct the correspondence of the society, andshall keep a record thereof, shall keep the common seal, acknowledgeall donations, and receive and read to the society all communicationsaddressed to it.

SEC. 4. The Treasurer shall have charge of all money or otherproperty of the society, excepting the museum and its contents, andexcepting also such property as may be placed by the society or theexecutive board in the hands of the trustees; shall collect all fees andassessments, and receive all donations in money which may be madeto it; shall pay all accounts against the society when the same shallbe approved by a vote of the executive board; shall keep a correct ac-count of all receipts and expenditures, in books belonging to thesociety; and shall at each annual meeting, and at other times when re-quired by the executive board, make a detailed report of the same.He shall notify members, who are in arrears, of their indebtedness tothe society, and shall report all delinquencies to the executive boardannually.

SEC. 5. The Librarian shall have charge of the books belonging to

Constitution and By-Laws of the Society. 5

the society, or deposited for its use, and of the publications of thesociety: he shall observe and enforce such regulations as the executiveboard shall from time to time make for the use of the books. Heshall have charge of the distribution, sale and exchange of the pub-lications of the society, under the direction of the executive board.

SEC. 6. The Curators shall be ex-officio chairmen of the sections, intheir respective branches of science. There shall be one curator foreach of the following named branches : Mineralogy, Palaeontology,Conchology, Entomology, Botany, Ornithology, Ichthyology, Archaeol-ogy, Comparative Anatomy, Herpetology.

The curators shall perform such duties as may be assigned to themby the executive board.

SEC. 7. The Executive Board shall control all expenditures of money,make rules for the use of the library and museum, and determine theduties of the curators; and they shall have power to employ a custo-dian and prescribe his duties, provided such custodian shall not beemployed for any term which shall interfere with his discharge at anytime by the board, and shall elect annually a committee of five (5)members of the society, to be called the publishing committee. TheExecutive Board shall have full power to act for the interests of thesociety, in any way not inconsistent with the Constitution and By-Laws ; they shall annually report to the society the condition of themuseum and library.

ARTICLE III. ASSESSMENTS.

SECTION 1. Every resident member shall be subject to an annual as-sessment of five (5) dollars, payable on the first Tuesday of April ofeach year, but no assessment shall be required of any member duringthe six months succeeding his election.

SEC. 2. The president and treasurer together shall be empowered toexempt (sub silentio) a member from assessment, when, from peculiarcircumstances, they may deem it for the interest of the society so todo.

ARTICLE IV. LIBRARY.

SECTION 1. Members of the society only shall have access to, or takebooks from, the library, but the executive board may, by special vote,extend the use of books to others than members, specifying the con-ditions under which they may be taken.

SEC. 2. The rules and regulations of the executive board, for theuse of the library, shall be printed and exposed in the library rooms,and a digest of them affixed to the volumes themselves.

6 Cincinnati Society of Natural History.

ARTICLE Y. MUSEUM.

SECTION 1. All members, and the public generally, shall have accessto the museum, at such times as the executive board shall determine.

SEC. 2. No specimen shall be removed from the museum, except byorder of the society, or for the purpose of illustrating the proceedings,and in either case the curator shall take a receipt for the same.

ARTICLE VI. COMMITTEES.

SECTION 1. The committee on publication shall, from time to time,cause to be published, and superintend the publication of such papersread to the society, and such portions of the record of the proceedings,as may seem to them calculated to promote the interests of science, sofar as the funds appropriated by the executive board shall permit, itbeing understood that the committee shall not be held responsible foranjr opinion expressed in said publications.

SEC. 2. The president shall, at every annual meeting, appoint a com-mittee of three, whose duty it shall be to audit the accounts of the re-ceipts and expenditures of the corporation.

ARTICLE VII. SECTIONS AND LECTURES.

SECTION 1. For the purpose of facilitating and encouraging specialinvestigation in the several branches of Natural Science, the membersmay organize sections under the chairmanship of the curator of thespecial branch for which the section is organized, upon such condi-tions and in conformity to such rules as the society may adopt.

SEC. 2. Public lectures may be delivered under the auspices of thesociety, whenever the executive board shall deem it expedient.

ARTICLE VIII. MEETINGS.

SECTION 1. The regular meetings of the society shall be held on thefirst Tuesday of each month, those held in April, July, October andJanuary shall be for the transaction of business; those held in May,June, August, September, November, December, February and Marchshall be for scientific pui'poses; the April meeting shall be known asthe annual meeting, at which the annual reports shall be read, and theofficers of the society shall be elected.

SEC. 2. Nine (9) members shall be a quorum for the transaction ofbusiness.

SEC. 3. The order of proceeding at business meetings shall be asfollows:

1. Reading of minutes of preceding business meeting.

Constitution and By-Laws of the Society. 7

2. Candidates for membership to be proposed.3. Election of members.4. Reading the minutes of the executive board.5. Business arising from the reading of minutes of the executive

board.6. Unfinished business.7. New business.8. Scientific communications.9. Donations.

10. Adjournment.The order of proceeding at scientific meetings shall be as follows:1. Reading of minutes of preceding scientific meeting.2. Written communications.

,3. Verbal communications.4. Candidates for membership to be proposed.5. Election of members.6. Miscellaneous business.7. Donations.8. Adjournment.

ARTICLE IX. AMENDMENTS.

SECTION 1. All propositions to amend these By-Laws shall be inwriting, and shall not be acted upon until the next regular meeting,when a majority vote of the members present shall be sufficient toadopt.

PBOCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY.

The following officers were elected at the regular annual meeting ofthe Cincinnati Society of Natural History, held April 6, 1880:

President—Dr. R. M. BYRNES.

1st Vice-President—Dr. J. H. HUNT.2d Vice-President—Dr. D. S. YOUNG.

Secretary—Dr. F. W. LANGDON.

Treasurer—S. E. WRIGHT.

Librarian—S. A. MILLER.

Curator of Palaeontology—Prof. J. MICKELBOROUGH.

Curator of Entomology—V. T. CHAMBERS.

Curator of Botany—DAVIS L. JAMES.Curator of Ornithology—JOHN W. SHORTEN.

Curator of Ichthyology—Dr. D. S. YOUNG.