b REPORT OF THE . 



himself the risk of the purchase, states in his Report, that it 

 is not only the largest known example of the genus, hut that 

 the species is so rare that he knows only of one other specimen, 

 which is to he found in the British Museum ; which, however, 

 is one-third less in size, and by no means so complete, as that 

 now in the possession of the Society. 



Our collection of Yorkshire fossils has also been enriched 

 through purchases made by funds voted by the Committee of 

 the Yorkshire Naturalists' Club. They include many speci- 

 mens of high scientific interest, and one especially, which 

 determines a "Whitby fossil, the nature of which has been 

 hitherto problematical, to be an appendage to the vertebral 

 column of an enormous osseous fish. A slab of mountain 

 limestone from Richmond, covered with the Ibeautiful new 

 encrinites (Woodocrinus of De Koninck), has been added to 

 the collection by an exchange with Mr. Wood. 



In the department of recent natural history the most valuable 

 addition received during the year is a specimen of the rare and 

 beautiful Opah or King-fish (Lampris guttata), taken at Redcar 

 and purchased from C. Oxley, Esq. Lieut. Cholmeley has 

 presented a valuable collection of shells, dredged by himself, 

 principally at Ports Philip and Jackson. P. Hague, Esq., 

 has given several valves of a species of river Mussel (Unio) 

 illustrating a secret possessed by the Chinese of stimulating the 

 animal to deposit shelly matter upon extraneous bodies, artifi- 

 cially inserted within the shell, and thus forming pearls of a 

 coarse quality in any required number. 



During 1857 the whole of the interior of the cases in the 

 Geological room has been repainted, and a large proportion of 

 the specimens washed, to clear them from the dust, which had 

 greatly obscured the beauty of some of them, especially those 

 from the Malton Oolites. An arrangement made with the 

 Rev. P. P. Carpenter, of Warrington, to print labels in 

 exchange for duplicate specimens, has been so far carried out, 

 that labels for the whole of the plants of the Coal Measures 

 and Yorkshire Oolites have been supplied to us. They are not 

 limited to the species in possession of the Society, but embrace 

 all yet published as British, Every label combines with the 



