12 
REPORT OF THE 
indebted to tbe kindness of one of its Honorary Members, 
W. C. Hewitson, Esq., F. L. S. 
The great event of the year, however, in this department is 
the acquisition of the Cabinet of British Lepidoptera, formed 
by the late lamented T. H. Allis, Esq., and most generously 
presented to the Society by his father, onr old and valued Mend 
Thomas Allis, Esq. It too often happens that collections like 
this are broken up and dispersed after the death of those who 
have formed them, and that the results of much labour are to a 
great extent lost. This noble collection, standing in the first 
rank among British collections, is happily preserved from this 
calamity, and will be always accessible for the purposes of 
scientific research. It contains about 20,000 specimens and 
species, the series of examples of each species being carefully 
selected so as to exhibit all the variations to which it is liable, 
and the specimens being remarkable for their perfect condition. 
The drawers in the cabinets of the Society, which were 
formerly occupied by the Lepidoptera, may now be made 
available for the other orders of Insects. A re-arrangement of 
the Coleoptera according to modern views is now in progress, 
and it is to be hoped that other orders may in their turn be 
brought up to the present state of science. 
CoNCHOLOGY.—The Curator of Conchology reports the ac¬ 
quisition of a large and valuable collection of foreign shells, 
bequeathed to the Society by the will of the late Mrs. Penelope 
Osborne, of Stonefall near Harrogate. The collection contains 
more than a thousand specimens, the greater part of which are 
in excellent preservation. It is proposed, shortly, to incorporate 
the collection with that previously in the possession of the 
Society, by this means many of the species will be illustrated 
by larger and more perfect series, and some important addition 
will be made to the species at present exhibited in the cabinets 
of the Society. 
Meteorological Eeport for 1870.—Though the year of 
1870 has been one of remarkable anomalies in Meteorologrical 
Phenomena, the results are almost the exact means of the 
observations of thirty years, in regard to atmospheric pressure, 
temperature, and rain-fall, 
