THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.
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Chester, there is scarcely a reference to Essex throughout the ten
volumes of the "Intelligencer" (1856—61).
Mr. J. B. Blackburn in the "Entomologists' Monthly Magazine"
(vol. i, p. 120), thus alludes to our biologically-benighted county :—
" In the earlier part of the year [not a hundred years ago, but in 1864] I had a very
pleasant excursion into the savage parts of Essex with my friend Dr. Battershell
Gill [who is still living], the presence of Aleucis pictaria compensating, in some
measure, for the wildness of the inhabitants, who appear to resist civilization
manfully. One barbarian, whom we engaged to drive us across four or five miles
of rough country at 10 o'clock on a dark night, I never heard equalled for droll
sayings. Unfortunately his high spirits and run of playful humour were attributable
to a lengthened visit at the village inn ; and he, persisting in the necessity of
charging along at full gallop, held us in bodily fear by terrible joltings."
I do not say that the object of our Field Meetings should be to
"civilize," as the word is usually interpreted, this hitherto "savage"
county, but we must, and can, scientifically civilize it. The paucity
of zoological and other information concerning Essex is not due to
the poorness of the localities included within its borders, as Mr.
Miller Christy will show in his forthcoming "Birds of Essex," and as
I hope soon to prove in a list of the Lepidoptera, and as a veteran
entomologist of over fifty years standing (still amongst us) has shown
by taking no fewer than four moths new to Britain in Essex in one day
in those "savage" times—an unprecedented occurrence, I believe.
In the pages of the "Entomologists' Monthly Magazine" (vol. viii,
p. 138), may be read how Mr. Samuel Stevens took Acidalia pero-
chraria, Catoptria citrana, Gelechia pictella, and Butalis cicadella at
Southend "twenty to twenty-five years ago" (from 1871).
Last year we held eight "Field" and one "Museum" meetings,
all of which, spite of a very fickle season, were blessed with fine
weather. Consequently, perhaps, they were well attended; still, I
think that the presence of so many members at the excursions may
be taken as evidence of their generally pleasant nature. I must
here personally congratulate you on the fact that the harmony of all
our well-attended meetings has never for one moment, as far as I
have seen, been interrupted or clouded by angry or intemperate
discussion ; esto perpetua.
Now, I venture to think that the pleasantness and cheerfulness of
these large gatherings would be as fully maintained if a larger number
of our members were to share in real observation. As I said before,
there is ample scope for investigation in our county, and we must
always remember that every succeeding year produces its own crop