ANNUAL REPORT. 
eo —— 
In presenting the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Chester 
Society of Natural Science it is encouraging to be able to state 
that the number of our Members is still on the increase, while 
in the steady working of the whole machinery by which the 
Society is held together we have a proof that the interest taken 
in Natural Science has in no way diminished. This gives us 
good hope for the future, and the opening out of a larger field 
of usefulness. 
During the past year we have elected 44 Ordinary Members, 
and have lost by death or removal 13 Ordinary Members. 
The subject which has necessarily occupied a large share 
of our attention during the past year has been the starting of 
the new Museum. Your Committee have carefully inspected 
the plans which affect the Local Museum of Natural History, 
the Lecture Rooms, and the Class Rooms for science teaching, 
though these only form part of the larger scheme which was 
brought before the General Meeting held Nov. rsth, 1883. 
Since the meeting, the Museum Fund, I am glad to report, 
has been on the increase, and although we have not yet 
sufficient to carry out the plan which has been fixed upon, as 
likely to meet the requirements of the four Societies who are to 
be represented under the same roof, still the General Committee 
has felt justified in commencing the building, entertaining every 
hope of its being satisfactorily completed. The foundation 
stone was laid on the 3rd of February, by His GRACE THE 
DuKE OF WESTMINSTER, and the Contractor is now hard 
at work, and we hope to see rapid progress made during 
the summer. This is the more necessary because we are 
under notice to leave our present premises by next Christmas. 
So much has been said of late of the educational advan- 
tages to be derived from Local Museums, and so many towns 
