"The annual meeting for the election of officers shall be the last regular meeting in December. "The meeting preceding the annual meeting shall be devoted to the President's annual address. "The reports of the retiring Vice-Presidents shall be presented at the meetings in January. "A quorum for the transaction of business shall consist of twenty-five active members." In Article V, the following paragraph was introduced immediately after the first paragraph of the article: "The dues of members elected in November and December shall be credited to the succeeding year." The following papers were then presented: "A Trip to Panama and Darien," by Mr. R. U. Goode, and "Survey of Mason and Dixon's Line," by Mr. Mark B. Kerr. A Trip to Panama and Darien, to be published in the "National Geographic Magazine," Vol. I, No. 4. _March 22, 1889, Twenty-first Meeting_. The paper of the evening was entitled, "Recent Events in the U. S. of Columbia," by Mr. W. E. Curtis. The discussion which followed was participated in by Messrs. Baker, Gannett, and others. _April 5, 1889, Twenty-second Meeting_. The paper of the evening was entitled, "House Life in Mexico," by Mr. A. B. Johnson. _April 19, 1889, Twenty-third Meeting_. This meeting was devoted to papers upon the Samoan Islands. The following programme was presented: "Samoa; the General Geography and Hydrography of the Islands and Adjacent Seas," by Mr. Everett Hayden. "Climate," by Prof. Cleveland Abbe. "Narrative of a Cruise Among the Islands," by Capt. R. W. Meade, U. S. N. "The Home Life of the Samoans and the Botany of the Islands," by Mr. W. E. Safford, U. S. N. _May 3, 1889, Twenty-fourth Meeting_. The paper of the evening was entitled, "Across Nicaragua with Transit and Machéte," by Mr. R. E. Peary, U. S. N. To be published in the "National Geographic Magazine," Vol. I, No. 4. _May 17, 1889, Twenty-fifth Meeting_. The paper of the evening was entitled, "The Krakatoa Eruption," by Dr. A. Graham Bell. The paper was discussed by Captain C. E. Dutton. (Translated by Mr. R. L. Lerch.) INTERNATIONAL LITERARY CONTEST To be held at Madrid, Spain, under the auspices of the Commission in charge of the celebration of the Fourth Centennial Anniversary of the Discovery of America. PROGRAM. The work for which a prize is offered is to be a prose essay, a true historic picture giving a just estimate of the grandeur of the occasion to be celebrated. So much has been written on this subject since the opening of the XVIth century that it would seem difficult to say anything new and good. Perhaps the details, perhaps the circumstances in the life and acts of Columbus are worthy of no little research; but already the Royal Academy of History is engaged in the erudite and diligent task of bringing together and publishing the un-edited or little known papers bearing on this question.