8o THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 



June, and that the members of the Museum would be printed in that list as mem- 

 bers of the Club. 



Mr. Chancellor thanked the members for electing him as President, and 

 proposed a vote of thanks to Dr. Laver and to the officers of the Club. This was 

 seconded by Mr. J. C. Shenstone and carried unanimously. 



Dr. Laver returned thanks on his own behalf and on behalf of the other 

 officers. 



The meeting was then made a Special one, for the consideration of some 

 additions to and alterations in the rules. 



The Hon. Secretary explained the alterations and additions of and to the rules 

 which had been most carefully made by a small Sub-Committee and by the 

 Council, and which were rendered necessary by the amalgamation of the two 

 societies. Proofs of the new rules were placed in the members' hands. 



\_The principal additions were the incorporation of the stipulations contained in the 

 Agreement for Amalgamation passed at the Special Meeting, held on January ^Ist, 

 1891, and printed in THE Essex Naturalist, Vol. IV., pp. 236 — 241, and the 

 establishment of a class of Associates., limited in number, elected by the Council on the 

 recommendation of the members, paying a smaller subscription. The alterations are, 

 that the subscription for new members shall be not less than l-,s. per annum, to include 

 The Essex Naturalist (^the subscription for new members after the amalgamation 

 now stands at £1 i-J.) / the change of date of Annual Meeting from January to 

 March ; a modification of the mode of nomination of the officers ; and consequent 

 additions and alter ations.'\ 



An amendment by Mr. Avery to the effect that retiring members of the 

 Council should stand for re-election without re-nomination, was, by permission of 

 the meeting, put to the vote, but was lost, and the rules, as altered and added to, 

 were passed nem. con., and ordered to be distributed to the members as the rules 

 of the Club. 



On the resumption of the ordinary business of the meeting, Mr. Edmund 

 Durrant, the Secretary for thirteen years of the Essex and Chelmsford Museum, 

 exhibited a portrait in oils of the founder of the Museum, the late Mr. Thomas 

 Clarkson Neale, formerly governor of the county gaol. The portrait was lent by 

 Mr. Neale's daughter, who is still living in Chelmsford. Mr. Durrant alluded to 

 the way in which the deceased gentleman started the institution and the good 

 work he did. He was connected with it from 1828 to 1862, and was Hon. Secre- 

 tary for nearly a quarter of a century. His views as to the functions of a local 

 Museum were evidently somewhat in advance of his time, but Mr. Durrant 

 expressed a hope that under the care of the amalgamated societies the old Essex 

 and Chelmsford Museum " would take a new lease of life, and before long realise 

 the intention of its founder by becoming one of the best natural history and 

 scientific museums in East Anglia.''^ 



Mr. Durrant also exhibited, on behalf of Master Vigne, the eldest son of 

 Mr. Vigne, of Writtlewick, a very curious nest, constructed by mice. Last autumn 

 a string of chestnuts — beloved of boys — was left in a basket in an aviary in the 

 garden, and recently it was found that the^string had been cleverly disintegrated 



I A very interesting article by Mr. Durrant on the foundation and early history of the 

 Museum appears in "The Essex Review " for April (vol. ii., pp. 113— ii8). As soon as the 

 amalgamation is legally completed vi-e hope to publish an .iccount of the Museum and the Club, 

 with full details. — Eo. 



