COUNCIL FOR 1864. 
11 
presented to the Society by Dr. Gribson, having been procured 
for biTTi in Nev/ Zealand by his brother, Mr. Edward Gribson, 
of Oamaru. This fine specimen has been the subject of a 
Paper read by Dr. Gibson to the Society, of which an Abstract 
will appear in a subsequent page. It is stated by Professor 
Owen to be perfectly unique, and will probably for many years 
constitute one of the most interesting objects in our Museum. 
Several of the bones, including the skull, which is in a 
beautiful state of preservation, and the coracoideo-scapular 
bone, which was previously unknown, and is apparently 
the sole representative of the anterior limb, were lent to 
Professor Owen, and will be described and figured in his next 
Memoir on the Gigantic Wingless Birds of New Zealand. The 
Skeleton has been mounted by Mr. Allis, and is now exhibited 
in a separate case in the Osteological Boom. 
The Library has received a considerable number of books 
during the past year, but none of them require to be particularly 
mentioned except the work of Dr. Birch, ‘‘ On the Papyrus of 
Nas Khem,” printed for private circulation by H. B. H. the 
Prince of Wales, and presented to the Society by His Boyal 
Highness through the kind intervention of the Dean of 
Westminster. The purchase of the ‘‘Journal of the British 
Archaeological Association,” out of the profits of Mr. Kemick’s 
volumes, has already been mentioned, and the Council hope in 
future years to announce other additions to the Library from 
the same source. 
The Curator of Meteorological Instruments reports that 
the temperature at York for the year 1864 was slightly above 
a mean. The height of the column of mercury was a little 
below the usual mean. The rain-fall for the year is 1*96 inches 
below the mean of the ten years ending December 31st, 1864. 
The rain-fall for July was only 0*47 inches, the least amount 
on record for that month in the last thirty-three years. The 
next lowest for that month was 0*77 in the year 1847. 
