10 REPORT OF THE 



often observed between both the extinct and the Uving creations of 

 America and Europe. Taken in connexion with prior contributions 

 from the same regions, by Mr. Wortley, Mr, Stapylton, and the 

 Rev. C. V. Harcourt, with the Norwegian Specimens gathered by 

 Mr. Bilton and Mr. Hatfeild, the student will find in the Yorkshire 

 Museum the means of investigating some of the most general 

 questions at present under discussion, regarding the nature and 

 distribution of the most ancient forms of animal life. 



For the same purpose, the large series of Fishes from the Old 

 Red Sandstone of Morayshire, presented by Mr. Stephenson, may be 

 consulted with advantage. Placed only one step higher in the scale 

 of stratification, only one Geological period later, this group of 

 extinct fishes, — Pterichthys, Coccosteus, Cheirolepis, &c., — ^has no 

 representative in the older Silurian, nor yet in the more recent 

 Carboniferous rocks ; nor, except by distant and faint analogies with 

 existing fishes, can their obscure and mysterious structures be 

 reduced to modem laws of organization, explained by the knowledge 

 acquired through the study of existing animals. 



Mr. Weaver has conferred on the Society an additional obligation, 

 by extending the series of specimens from the Tortworth district, so 

 as to make it include the Liassic and Oolitic Strata, as far upward as 

 the Portland Stone. The New Cases just completed will permit an 

 improvement in the exhibition of the Minerals, which has been long 

 desirable, and of expanding to double its present extent the collection 

 of recent Invertebrata. 



The Collection of Vertebrated Animals has likewise been enriched 

 by some valuable donations : amongst which may be enumerated 

 collections of the Skins of Birds, from North America by Mr. 

 Hatfeild, from Australia by Mr. James Backhouse, and from South 

 America by the Rev. W. V. Harcourt. 



The Collections of Comparative Osteology have been entirely re- 

 arranged; the Ornithological Specimens have been placed in the 

 Gallery of the Zoological Room, where they are better displayed 

 and rendered more available to the student, than in the room they 

 previously occupied. The Mammalia and Reptiles have likewise been 

 removed from their former locality, and placed in a more commodious 

 room, where they are exhibited to greater advantage than heretofore. 

 The Council hear with satisfaction that it is the intention of the 



