COUNCIL FOR 1883 . 
11 
is now room for further arrangement of the specimens already 
possessed by the Museum, and also for making some additions 
to them. The Curator is commencing this work at present. 
Department of Entomology. — The work done in this 
Department has only extended to the re-arrangement of a few 
foreign Coleoptera. 
Botanical Curator’s Eeport.—The British Herbaria have 
been examined and found in a good state of preservation. 
Thirty valuable Stove and Dreenhouse Plants, including a 
few Orchidaceoe and Ferns, have been presented to the Society 
by W. H. Rudston Read, Esq. 
METEOROLOGY. 
The barometer during 1883 was specially noticeable for the 
great range in January of over two inches in three days, from 
30'63L on the 23rd to 28’630 on the 26th. The high maxima 
in February, March, and April are also interesting, although 
falling short of the extraordinary record, 30'894, in January of 
the previous year. The mean readings were normal. 
Except in March the temperature was never low, either 
during the month or on any one day. The maximum tem¬ 
peratures, also, were very moderate in summer, and abnormally 
high in winter, so that the highest record, 75*7 in July, hardly 
exceeds the maximum of January by 20°. The opening days 
of May were colder than those which ushered in the year. 
March, which began very mild, brought phenomenal cold in the 
second week, zero being registered at Kirby Hall, 12 miles to 
the N.W., and 5° or lower at other places between York and 
Thirsk. Our record on the same day was 8°. 
Another year of heavy rainfall, especially due to the excess 
in June and July, is added to the series which began in 1875, 
so that, as Mr. Gr. J. Symons has pointed out, nothing similar 
to it has been known for over 150 years. March, April, 
May, and August were very dry ; 4’53 inches in July and 4’31 
in September are the heaviest monthly totals, whilst I’Ol and 
1T2 inches were recorded respectively on June 29th and July 
