22 ANNUAL REPORT OF THF. COUNCIL. 



to Mr. H. I. Coburn for the great care and attention he has given, as Hon. 

 SoHcitor to the Club, to the legal and other arrangements in connection 

 therewith ; also to Mr. W. C. Dare, the Hon. Coun.sel, to whom the draft 

 agreement was submitted for settlement Thev also record thanks to the 

 members of the Sub-Commiitee of Arbitration, and particularly to Mr. W C- 

 Waller for the labour he has bestowed in the matter in the office of Hon. 

 Secretary to the Sub-Committee. 



It would be premature to give now anything like a full report on the 

 Museum. The Curator will in a few months' time draw up a report for 

 presentation to a meeting of the Club, and will embody in it the main details 

 of the proposed arrangement of the collections. This cannot be done 

 usefully until the building is in a more advanced stage. 



Some donations to the Museum should, however, be acknowledged at 

 once. Mr. \V. H. Dalton, F.G.S., has presented the whole of his valuable 

 geological collections, and has moreover devoted a considerable time to the 

 classification of the specimens and will continue to do so as opportunity 

 offers ; Mr. J. C. Shenstone has presented his Herbarium, consisting largely 

 of Essex plants, which number about 700 specimens ; the Rev. J. W- 

 Kenworthy has presented specimens from the supposed Forest Bed at Clacton 

 and has placed his Braintree collections of the remains of animals and flint 

 implements, &c., on loan, to form a temporary exhibition of the works of 

 Neolitliic Man and his surroundings and animal contemporaries ; Mrs. Bree 

 has, through Dr. Laver, presented the collection of the bones of Pleistocene 

 Mammalia from the North Sea, made by her husband, the late Dr. C. R. Bree, 

 of Colchester. This collection has not yet been received, but will come into 

 our possession very shortly. Other donations have been received or are 

 promised, and will be recorded in the report to be presented as above indicated. 



In accordance with the terms of the agreement, the Council have 

 established a " Museum Purchase Fund " to raise the money required 

 (estimated at /'i,ooo) for the fitting up and equipments of the Museum. 

 A full statement of this Fund has recently been placed in the hands of the 

 members, and Council await the result, in the hope that the members of the 

 Club and the public generally will support an institution which might be 

 rendered one of great interest and educational value. 



The Council cannot refrain from congratulating the Club on the fact that 

 an Essex Museum of Natural History in the true sense of the term will soon 

 be established. The Museum at first will probably fall far short of the wishes 

 of the promoters, but the arrangements made will permit of its rapid growth 

 and development ; above all, the risk of decadence will be minimised, as 

 the annual grant will permit of continuous work being carried on. In a few 

 years time the County Museum will, it is confidently anticipated, be worthy 

 of its name by containing sets of specimens fairly representative of the 

 natural history of a most interesting district. 



Meetings. — Eleven meetings were held during i8g8, which were well and 

 sometimes numerously attended. They have all been reported in full in our 

 Journal and therefore but few remarks are necessary. As in former years it is 

 our pleasing duty to acknowledge kind hospitalities. At the meeting on July 

 23rd, the Mayor of Colchester, Mr. .Mderman J. N. I'axman, entertained the 

 Club at his beautiful seat, Stisted Hall, and on October ist the Vicar of 



