xxii Journal of Proceedintja, 



Mr. D'Oyley said that there had been no miportation of Deer, and 

 quoted the opinion of the late Mr. Grimston, a gentleman well acquainted 

 with the Forest, that these were the descendants of animals which had 

 inhabited the woods from time immemorial. In answer to a question 

 from Mr. Harting he stated that, for some time after birth, the fawns 

 were black, except at the neck, where some white appeared. This fact, 

 Mr. Harting pointed out, was quite abnormal in the Deer-tribes. 

 Luffman, the head keeper in the Forest, had told him that he had heard 

 his grandfather say that Deer had been brought into the Forest ; but he 

 (Mr. Harting) did not place implicit reliance upon this, because he had 

 been similarly informed with respect to the Deer in Lord Leconfield's 

 park. These, he had been told, had been brought by Lord Leconfield's 

 father fi^om Windsor ; but, on writmg to his lordship to enquire, he was 

 informed that the fact was the other way— that some of Lord LecoufiekVs 

 Deer had been sent to Windsor. 



Mr. Meldola observed that the history and nature of the Forest Deer 

 were subjects well within then- scope, and he hoped careful enquiries and 

 observations would be made in the matter. 



A paper, " On the Formation of a Local Museum," was read by Mr. 

 Harting [Transactions, ii., 36] . 



The President, in proposing a vote of thanks to the author, said that he 

 agreed almost entirely with what Mr. Harting had said eto well, and he 

 had ah-eady given expression to similar ideas on a former occasion. He 

 thought the Society could not be too decided in excluding the proverbial 

 stuffed crocodile and foreign objects of doubtful origin, nor too strongly 

 urge upon its members the ad\isability of gi\ing a complete and accurate 

 record w-ith every specimen which they might present to the Museum. 

 The best and most useful specimens would be those collected by them- 

 selves in their own districts. He thought the Society should restrict the 

 specimens to objects found in Essex, except perhaps objects which might 

 be called educational and which served to illustrate in various ways the 

 flora and fauna of the county. He would di'aw the line at what were 

 commonly called antiquities. The Essex Ai^cha^ological Society dealt 

 with these, and he would suggest that, if the Essex Field Club preserved 

 antiquities at all, they should be only such as came faMy within the class 

 called pre-historic. He thought their Museum should be as much as 

 possible educational. It should have two sides; the somewhat deeper 

 scientific aspect represented by ha\ing as complete a series as possible of 

 aU local animals, plants, fossils, and minerals ; but it should also have a 

 popular educational side. For the latter there should be diagrams showing 

 the typical structure of plants and anunals, and examples of dissections 

 and other preparations to aid the real student. Great advance had 

 recently been made in the mode of conserving and exliibiting many objects, 

 and when they saw the progress Mr. English had made in preserving Fungi 

 and flowering plants, he thought that a collection of plants, &c., preserved 

 by those methods would be a valuable thing in the proposed Museum. 



