SHORT HISTORY OF ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 5
investigated, the subscriptions for this venture being supple-
mented by a grant of £10 from the British Association ; a report
giving the detailed results of the investigation was published
in this case also.
At the Annual Meeting of 1882 the title of the Club was
changed from the original "Epping Forest and County of
Essex Naturalists' Field Club" to the more concise one which
is still in use, the "Essex Field Club."
In 1882, the youthful Club criticised the Conservators' scheme
for draining the more swampy parts of Epping Forest, and
signatures were obtained to a petition against the scheme on the
ground of interference with the insect and plant life of the
woodlands.
In response to urgent representations from the honorary
secretary, the Council, at its meeting on March 25, 1882, passed
the following, surely very foolish, resolution, which indeed had
already been acted upon a year earlier, viz. :—
"That the Council do spend £100 out of the payments
for Life Compositions in the purchase of cabinets and cases
to contain the specimens in the Museum."
In suggesting that the Life Compounders' subscriptions
should be earmarked for this purpose, Mr. Cole added that if
possible a yearly sum could be paid back to the Life Composition
account, but, of course, this pious intention was never carried
out ; and by this ill-advised action the Club became burdened
with a large contingent liability to its Life Members against which
no provision existed. Not until nearly 30 years later was this
error fully rectified in the accounts.
In 1883, after three years of office, Mr. Meldola retired from
the Presidentship and was succeeded by Professor G. S. Boulger,
F.L.S., F.G.S.
In October, 1883, the Honorary Secretary mooted the idea
of obtaining permission from the City Corporation to establish
a local museum in Queen Elizabeth's Lodge at Chingford. The
idea was temporarily ousted by an alternative one, considered
in 1884, namely, to form this proposed museum in the newly-
erected Lopping Hall at Loughton; but this last scheme never
matured, although the Ordinary Meetings of the Club were
for some time held at the Lopping Hall.
In October, 1883, also, another inroad upon the Life Com-