10 
REPORT OF THE 
the space not occupied by the birds may be devoted to the 
reception of specimens of the few mammalia which are found 
in Britain. Two table cases in the centre will, according to 
the calculation of Mr. Dallas, furnish adequate room for a 
collection of shells, echinodermata, polypes and Crustacea, 
together with a small typical collection of insects. 
In the corresponding room on the other side, into which a 
door is about to be opened, the Council propose to begin the 
formation of a collection of the fossils of Yorkshire. Almost 
every geologist from a distance, who visits the Museum, ex¬ 
presses a wish, that by means of such a collection he could at 
once see the identity or diversity of the productions of the 
Yorkshire strata, and those which he has studied in his own 
district. The great extent of the county and the variety of its 
formations, from the tertiaries of its eastern coast to the 
palseozoic remains in its western hills, will furnish abundant 
means of gradually filling the cases of such a special Yorkshire 
Museum. It is not, however, the intention of the Council to 
interfere with the stratigraphical arrangement of the present 
geological room. Nothing can be more interesting and in¬ 
structive to the student of geology and palaeontology than the 
series here presented to him, whether he proceeds from the 
latest and most superficial deposits, through the long succession 
of strata, till he reaches those in which hitherto no traces of 
organic life have been found; or follows the ascending scale, 
from its simplest to its most complex forms. The collection in 
the geological room could hardly continue to serve this purpose, 
if the greater number of Yorkshire specimens were at once 
withdrawn, to be placed in a separate series. Many duplicates, 
however, are in the Society’s possession, by means of which 
the commencement of a separate Yorkshire collection may be 
made, and the Council feel persuaded that when once this design 
is known, contributions of specimens will flow in from various 
quarters. The importance of such a special exhibition of the 
palseontology of Yorkshire is evident; and if it is to be formed 
any where within the limits of the county, it will not be denied 
that the Museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society is its 
most appropriate place. To whatever extent this special collec- 
