THE COUNCIL. 
Some valuable epiphytic orchideae have been given by Mr. 
S. Stutchbury, of the Bristol Institution, and a tree fern from 
Van Diemen’s Land, by Mr. Backhouse. The contributions 
in Entomology, by Mr. Meynell and others will, the Council 
hopes, be soon rendered available in appropriate cabinets : for 
these, though absolutely required, have not yet been con¬ 
structed ; the cost of preparing several hundred birds, and 
other expenses connected with the Museum, having compelled 
the Council to postpone all further disbursements. 
The Library has been chosen as the place to receive one 
of the most gratifying of ail the donations which has ever 
been made to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, the bust 
of its first President and constant benefactor—executed by 
the hands of Chantrey at the request of a very large propor¬ 
tion of the Members of the Society, who, in a public meeting, 
resolved by this beautiful work of art, fixed in the Y orkshire 
iMuseum, to perpetuate the memory of the services rendered 
to the Institution by the Bev. W. Vernon Harcourt. The 
volumes which Mr. Priestley has enriched by his laborious 
inquiries into the etymology of the obscure dialects of Craven 
are too closely connected with the ancient history of Yorkshire 
to be received with indifference ; and the copy of Observations 
made at Paramatta, presented by the Royal Astronomical 
Society, though of a character far beyond the present power 
of our useful observatory, may yet, from the peculiar circum¬ 
stances which gave them birth, encourage a hope that the 
taste now rising amongst us, for the cultivation of physical 
science, may in some future day be furnished with greater 
means of exertion. 
The solar eclipse of May, 1836, was observed with care 
by one party of our Members at home, and by another who 
proceeded to view its annularity at Durham ; some data have 
thus and by other means been collected for the determination 
B 3 
