15
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE
YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31st, 1887.
[Read at the Annual Meeting, January 28th, 1888.]
The issue of the Essex Naturalist month by month, in which reports of the
meetings of the Club and various notices relative to its proceedings, have been
regularly printed, renders it unnecessary to present a record of the past year's work
with any great fulness of detail. The Council very gladly announce that the Club
has in great measure overcome the financial and other difficulties which hindered
the regular publication of papers, and there is now a very fair prospect that the
journal of the Club will continue to appear with regularity.
The roll of members, and the collection of subscriptions from them are matters
that still, however, continue to be a source of anxiety. In spite of the efforts of
Mr. Royle and others, a very considerable sum, representing unpaid subscriptions,
is due to the Society, notwithstanding the fact that no less than twenty-seven
non-paying members were struck off the books in April last. Another revision
(and it is hoped a final one) of the roll of members will be undertaken at once,
and possibly the bulk of the outstanding subscriptions may yet be gathered
into the treasury. The Council feels compelled, very reluctantly, to recur to
this subject. The members will understand that it is a very serious matter, and
one that lies at the very foundations of the progress, welfare, and continued
usefulness of the Club.
During the past year, thirty-six members have been elected, and about thirty
persons have ceased to be members from death or resignation, the reasons usually
assigned for the latter step being inability to attend the meetings. The exact
numbers cannot be given until the revision of the roll, above alluded to, is completed.
The number of our members at present is about 370, of which 17 are honorary
members and 26 life members. It is evident to all well-wishers of the Society
that every effort should be made to gather effective members into our ranks. As
stated in a former Report, the Council cannot look upon the list as satisfactory
until at least 400 subscribing members are enrolled. As soon as possible a care-
fully revised list of members will be published, and it is ardently desired that before
the next Annual Meeting the required number may be reached, and that the finan-
cial position of the Club, as a consequence, may be firmly established.
The Council may here express regret at the deaths of Colonel Russell, Mr. E.
G. Varenne, Mr. C. Thomas, and Mr. J. L. English. An obituary notice of
Colonel Russell has already been published, and our Editor anticipates being put
into possession of material for the preparation of similar short biographies of Mr.
Varenne and Mr. English.
Mr. Charles Thomas was a very early life-member of the Club, having joined
in May, 1880, and he served upon the Council from 1881 to 1887. He was a
Fellow of the Geological and the Royal Microscopical Societies, and was well
known in Cornwall in connection with mining affairs. He contributed to the
Club's publications a paper on "Clathrulina elegans in Essex" (Trans. E.F.C.,
vol. iv. page 50), and a short note on a new and useful form of slide for the
microscopical examination of plants and animals (Proc. E.F.C., vol. iii. page 49).
Twelve meetings have been held during the year, of which seven were Ordinary
Meetings, and the others Field or other Meetings. The proceedings at these