Ixxxvi Journal of Proceedings. 



thinking it would be better to devote an entire evening to a subject so 

 important.* 



A paper entitled " The Mammalia of Essex," by Mr, Henry Laver 

 F.L.S., was read by the Secretary [Transactions, ii. 157]. 



A long discussion on various details connected with the natural history 

 of our native quadrupeds was carried on by the President, Dr. Pearce, 

 Messrs. English, Gould, Cole, Lockyer, Warner, and others. The pugna- 

 cious habits of the shrew, which it was suggested might account for their 

 being so commonly found dead on paths, etc., in autumn ; the white 

 colour of the stoat in some winters; the question of "vermin," and the 

 assumed right of gamekeepers to destroy all animals under that name ; 

 the former existence of red deer in the Forest, and other matters were 

 referred to. Mr. English exhibited a photograph of a remarkable aberra- 

 tion in colour in the connnon squirrel ; the specimen (which was quite 

 " piebald" ) had been taken in the Forest in 1858, and was now in the 

 possession of an inhabitant of the hamlet of Ivy Chimneys, near They don. 



Mr. Warner called attention to the fact that the otter was still found 

 in the Lea Kiver. A female weighing thirteen and-a-half pounds was 

 shot in the private fishery belonging to Mr. E. J. Eastwood, King's 

 Weir, Cheshunt, on November 20th, 1878, and was recorded in the 

 ' Times.' Mr. Eastwood had informed him that in 1881, he (Mr. 

 Eastwood) saw three in the same water, and that a very large one had 

 lately been seen in the mill-stream adjoining, belonging to the Govern- 

 ment Powder Factory, at Waltham Abbey, by some of the men employed 

 upon the premises. 



A cordial vote of thanks was passed to Mr. English and Mr. Laver for 

 their communications. 



It was announced that the Annual Meeting would take place on the 

 28th of January. Part 5 of the ' Transactions,' containing 88 pp. of 

 letterpress and four plates, was on the table. The usual conversazione 

 concluded the meeting. 



Saturday, January 28th, 1882. — Ordinary and Annual General 



Meeting. 



The 24th Ordinary Meeting was held at the Head Quarters, at seven 

 o'clock, the President in the Chah. 



The Librarian announced the donation of a volume to the library by 

 Mr. B. G. Cole, and that two volumes of the ' Transactions of the 

 Watford Natural History Society' had been acquired by purchase. 



* The matter above referred to, together with the general question of Forest manage- 

 ment from the Natural History point of view, came on for discussion at the meeting of 

 the Club held on February 25th, 1882. A full report has been prepared, and will be 

 issued in the next part of ' Transactions ' as an Appendix to Vol. iii., and also in a 

 separate pamphlet form for distribution, — Ed. 



