THK i;s.si:\ Fii:i.i> cirn. 37 



out in full, R.X., \\., pp. J36-241.J 1 lie Comuil lomuiL-ii Js it with LuntKieiue to 

 the members, feeling assured thai the establishment of such an institution would 

 not only he of the greatest service to the Club and its members, but would also 

 be the means of stimulating a love for science and the practical study of Nature 

 throughout the county. When the scheme is finally accepted by the members, a 

 committee will be appointed to make an appeal for the necessary funds, not only 

 to the members, but also the public generally, by means of meetings, ciicular 

 letters, e'.c. The Club will have an excellent cause to promote, and the Council 

 has high hopes that the appeal will prove successful. 



In connection whh the proposed Museum, allusion should be made to tiie 

 important subject of Technical Education, which has received so great an impetus 

 from the passing of the Local Ta.\ation Act, i8go, under which Act very con- 

 siderable sums are placed in the hands of the County Councils for the promotion 

 of the teaching of technical subjects and the elements of science. '1 he County 

 Council of Essex will have a sum estimated at ;{^i-j.ooo for these objects. In 

 response to a public notice issued by the County Council, the Secretary, on 

 behalf of the Council of the Club, made an application for a grant under the Act 

 for the purpose of giving practical instruction in science and technical subjects. 

 This application has been supp'emented bj- the publication of a detailed scheme 

 for Technical Instruction in the county, copies of which will be laid upon the 

 table at the Annual Meeting, and which will be printed in full in the ESSFX 

 Naturalist. [See E X.. iv., pp. 259 262.] The scheme is now under con- 

 sideration by the County Council. Should the Club's application for a grant be 

 acceded to, the question of the establishment of a Museum and Laboratory will 

 receive additional importance, the practical carrying out of the Educational 

 scheme being ckjsely connected therewith. 



The Ordinary and Field Meetings of the Club have certainly not lost interest 

 during the past year. They have all been well attended, and it is with great 

 satisfaction that the Council is enabled to reiterate this statement. We are now 

 entering upon the twelfth year of the Club's existence, and it is a legitimate 

 subject of congratulation, that, with no change of methods, and with a close 

 adhesion to matters of local interest, the supply of papers and addresses shows 

 no signs of diminution, and the Field Meetings continue to be carrit d on most 

 successfully. During the j^ear fourteen Ordinary and Field Meetings have been 

 held. At these meetings the following papers have been read, or have been com- 

 municated direct to the Editor for publication in the Essex Naturalist, those 

 marked with an asterisk having already been printed : — 



* " Binl Migrations : Being the Presidential Address delivered at the 

 loth .Annual Meeting." ¥.. A. Fitch, F.L.S. 



•"Suggestions on the Collecting and Study of the Minute Fungi of 

 Essex." Dr. M.C. Cooke. 



* "The Threatened Destruction of the Essex Oyster Culture." William 

 Rome, F.S.A. 



* " Suggestions for the Formation of a County Herbarium. " J. C. 

 Shenstone, F.R.M.S. 



".An Historical Sketch of Waltham .Abbey and its Foundation, with a 

 Description of its .Architecture " (^Address'). G. H. Birch, F'.S.A. 



"On some .Abnormal Forms of Vegetation." Part II. (^Lecture.) Charles 

 Browne, M.A., F.S.A. 



* " Notes of Geological Rambles in the Braintree District in connection 

 with the Easter F^xcursion of the Club.'" W. H. Dalton, F'.G.S. 



* "Chelmsford Water Supply." T. \'. Holmes, F.G.S. 



* " Remarks on Collecting Diptera." CJ. H. \'errall, F'.E.S. 



