President Roy McDiarmid called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m. in the Waldo Schmitt Room, National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). Council members and editorial staff present: Marilyn Schotte (Elected Council), Ron Heyer (Acting President Elect), Chad Walter (Treasurer), Carole Baldwin (Secretary), Richard Banks, Stephen Cairns, Bruce Collette, and Storrs Olson (Past Presidents), and Steve Gardiner, Carol Hotton, and Ed Murdy (Associate Editors).

Minutes of the 130th Annual Meeting were summarized by Secretary Baldwin. Those minutes are scheduled to appear in Volume 117(1) of the Proceedings, which had not been published at the time of the annual meeting. Following approval of the minutes, McDiarmid summarized recent Society activities. McDiarmid announced that Proceedings Editor Richard Sternberg submitted his resignation as Editor on 9 October 2003 but agreed to remain in the position until a replacement could be found. Past President Richard Banks has agreed to serve as interim Editor beginning 1 July 2004. In view of declining manuscript submissions to the Proceedings, McDiarmid is appointing a committee to investigate electronic publishing. To investigate declining Society membership, he is re-establishing a Membership Committee. McDiarmid also noted that he met recently with NMNH Director, Cristián Samper, and new NMNH Associate Director for Research and Collections, Hans Sues, to inform them of the existence of the Society and its historical relationship with and support from the museum. Those administrators are in favor of the museum's continued support of the Society and are interested, in principal, in hosting the Society's website on the museum server, but they indicated that a final decision about the website should not be made until the museum's new information-technology director is hired. Associate Editor Steve Gardiner, who has produced the Society's web pages on the server at Bryn Mawr College, announced that his institution is agreeable to leaving the Society's website on its server if necessary. McDiarmid concluded his summary of recent Society activities by noting that the Society will publish a special Bulletin this year entitled Study of the Dorsal Gill-Arch Musculature of Teleostome Fishes, with Special Reference to the Actinopterygii, by Victor G. Springer and G. David Johnson. This 800+ page Bulletin will comprise two volumes and be published in an 8_ x 11 format.
President McDiarmid then called on Chad Walter for the Treasurer's Report (Table 1). Income for the period 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2003 was $93,105.92, and expenses for the same period were $74,024.02. Total Society assets as of 15 April 2004 were $99,705.40. The value of the endowment fund increased by $12,307 in 2003. The Audit Committee, Don Wilson and Neal Woodman, indicated that they had reviewed the books and ledgers of the Treasurer and found all financial records to be accurate and in good order. The Treasurer's report was approved.

Proceedings Editor Richard Sternberg reported at the Society's Council meeting on 17 May 2004 that four issues of Volume 116 were published comprising 75 papers and 1007 pages. As of 1 June 2004, there were 34 submissions, but neither 117 (1) nor 117(2) had yet been published. Issue 117(1) was submitted in January 2004, but because of the low number of submissions (8), that issue would have been unusually small. Publication was delayed until more manuscripts were ready for publication. A decision was then made to split 117(1) into 117(1) and 117(2), both to be published approximately the same time and very soon. Sternberg acknowledged that the decrease in submissions reported last year finally caught up with us. Furthermore, he noted that the delayed publication of the first issues of volume 117 also was attributable to slower-than-normal production of page proofs and page-proof mailing errors. Issue 117(3) is on track for timely production. The Editor's report was approved by the Council.

Custodian of Publications Storrs Olson reported little activity with back issues but noted that he had filled a few orders. The print run of the Proceedings was reduced previously from 1000 to 850 copies, but since membership is 730, the print run could be reduced again, perhaps to 800.
Frank Ferrari noted that the Finance Committee (Stephen Cairns, Oliver Flint, Chad Walter, and Ferrari) had consulted an attorney about tax laws regarding member contributions to the Society. The Finance Committee recommends three categories of gifts: Contributor ($100-$499), Sponsor ($500-$999), and Benefactor ($1000 and higher). Donors will receive a letter from the Society that indicates the donor received nothing for his/her contribution, and names of donors will be listed in four consecutive issues of the Proceedings. The Committee is currently working on an announcement of the gift-fund categories.

Secretary Baldwin indicated that a vote was needed on a change to Article 8 of the Bylaws proposed last year by the Finance Committee. Regarding the Society's Endowment Fund, the first sentence of Article 8 currently states: "There shall be an Endowment Fund which shall consist of contributions from members, miscellaneous gifts, and surplus funds from operations." The proposed change would remove "and surplus funds from operations," and the amended first sentence would read: "There shall be an Endowment Fund which shall consist of gifts from members and miscellaneous gifts." The proposed change was unanimously approved.
Baldwin also noted that results of the 2004 election of officers could not be announced as usual at the annual meeting because the ballots, which are part of Proceedings issue 117(1), have not been mailed. Results of the election will be added as an addendum to these minutes.
President McDiarmid then announced that in hopes of increasing attendance at the annual meetings, he had decided this year to add a program at the conclusion of the annual meeting.

Uncharacteristically for Society meetings, the Waldo Schmitt room was nearly full as McDiarmid introduced the scheduled program. McDiarmid remarked that the purpose of the program was to honor Past President Bruce Collette, whose activities in our Society are a reflection of his attitude, activities, and devotion to promoting science. The program began with Division of Fishes ichthyologist David Smith presenting The Natural History of Bruce B. Collette, a talk Dave had written as an introductory talk for a symposium honoring Collette held at the May 2004 meetings of the American Society of Ichthyology and Herpetologists in Norman, Oklahoma. Following Dave's thoughtful and entertaining presentation, Bruce was invited by McDiarmid to speak. Bruce's comments reflected his love of his job and the thrill of being able to work on so many interesting fish groups, such as tunas ("warm-blooded fish!"). At the core of his message was the fact that seeking answers to simple natural history questions, rather than hypothesis testing, had led him to so many years of study and a lot of publications. Bruce concluded with a plea for Society members to work to conserve diversity and habitats. The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Carole C. Baldwin
Secretary

Addendum to Minutes.-Results of the 2004 election of officers are as follows: President-Elect -- W. Ronald Heyer; Secretary -- Carole C. Baldwin; Treasurer -- T. Chad Walter; Elected Council -- Michael D. Carleton, W. Duane Hope, Marilyn Schotte, F. Christian Thompson, Jeffrey T. Williams, and Neal Woodman. Additionally, a proposed amendment to Article 5 was passed. This amendment allows the Council to elect a replacement President-Elect to finish the term if the President-Elect is unable to carry out the duties of office, and then both the President and President-Elect positions are voted on at the next scheduled election.