12 
EEPORT OF THE 
CoNCHOLOGY.— The Curator of Conchology and of Ethnology 
has nothing to report, no additions having been made to the 
Collections, 
Botany. —-The Curator reports the presentation by Mrs. 
Hey, of St. Mary’s, of four fine Tree Ferns from Tasmania, 
viz., three Dicksonia Antarctica and one Cyatliea cVAlhata^ which 
are now thriving in the conservatory. 
Libkaky. —-The Curator of the Library reports that no 
addition requiring special notice has been made during the past 
year. He suggests, however, the great desirableness of some 
further and regular provision expressly for the wants of this 
department, in order that some fair proportion of new scientific 
works of importance may from time to time be added to the 
shelves. To this suggestion the Council will be glad to attend 
so far as possible. The Classed Catalogue of the Books, being 
a work involving considerable labour, is still in progress, but 
it is hoped that it will be completed in the course of the present 
year. 
METEOROLOGY.“The Curator, in his report, draws special 
attention to the excessive quantity of the Bain-fall during the 
past year. One effect of this has been to occasion landslips of 
some magnitude in the Liassic and Oolitic districts of Yorkshire. 
In Bunswick Bay a landslip took place, and a considerable part 
of the clilf subsided towards the sea. 
A still more serious subsidence has taken place in the valley 
on the Southern range of the same hills, about half way between 
Ampleforth and Oswaldkirk. 
The surface soil here is of considerable thickness, underlaid 
by a bed of strong clay resting upon hard strata, and inclined 
at a considerable angle on the side of the valley. After the 
heavy rains the water has percolated through the surface soil to 
the clay beneath, which becoming exceedingly slippery, a 
portion of land, including the high road, 154 yards in length, 
has slipped a distance of 24 yards down the valley, carrying a 
farm-house along with it, which is thereby rendered unsafe for 
habitation, and will in all probability become a ruin. 
