FOR COUNTY LOCAL SOCIETIES. 187 



purposes alluded to, in accordance with some siicli scheme as 

 the following : — 



1. That the local Society should in each year lay before the 

 Education Committee of the County Council proposals and 

 plans for any explorations or investigations which in the opinion 

 of the expert committee of the Society, are worthy of being 

 undertaken, and that on approval the estimated sum required 

 for the work and for the publication of the report be allocated 

 to the Society. 



2. The committee of the Society having accompUshed the 

 work, should prepare a detailed report, with such maps and 

 illustrations as may be necessary. This report might be printed 

 in tiie journal of the Society, copies bemg struck off for sale. 

 Or the reports might be issued on a uniform plan for the whole 

 kingdom. In any case the reports should be issued at a very 

 cheap rate for distribution to the public. 



3. Any sum unexpended might be returned to the council, or 

 carried to the next year's work. 



4. In selecting the subjects proper for such a series of investi- 

 gations the peculiar conditions and requirements of each county 

 will be considered. Taking Essex as an example, the following 

 may be suggested : — 



(a) The accurate surveying and plotting down on large-scale 

 plans of typical prehistoric remains, particularly of such as may 

 be in danger of destruction, and the careful exploration of the 

 same under expert direction. 



(b) The preparation of accurate lists and of maps of the 

 county, showing the positions and mode of occurrence of any 

 relics of prehistoric age hitherto found therein, with indications 

 of the museums or collections in which they are preserved, and 

 references to any published details and figures. 



(f) Exploration work in the shallow-water districts of the 

 North Sea and in our estuaries and rivers, so as to collect 

 materials for full and accurate lists of the marine and fresh- 

 w^ater fauna and fiora, and to study the conditions regulating the 

 occurrence of each form where possible. 



(d) The mapping out of the distribution of inland plants and 

 animals, having like regard to the conditions of their occurrence ; 

 the study of the varying conditions of agriculture and gardening 

 in different parts of the county. 



