SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FORMATION OF A COUNTY HERBARIUM. 71
given least attention to this important subject that all the branches
of the Field Naturalist's knowledge are closely linked together, and
that he who would become a master of any one of the Natural History
sciences must clearly see the association that exists between all, and
have at least a general knowledge of the scope and teaching of
each of these departments of human knowledge.
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FORMATION OF A
COUNTY HERBARIUM.
By J. C. SHENSTONE, F.R.M.S.
[Read April 7th, 1890.]
IT is now ten years since the foundation of the Essex Field Club,
and we may congratulate ourselves upon the success it has at-
tained ; but we must not rest upon our oars, and in no way could we
better celebrate its tenth year than by making an effort to remedy
perhaps the most serious deficiency from which our Club suffers—
I allude to the want of a properly established museum, without
which no County Natural History Society can be considered com-
plete.
I am very glad that a movement is on foot for supplying this great
want, for not only will a museum be a good thing in itself, but the exer-
tions necessary on the part of our members to form such a collection
of specimens as will adequately represent the Natural History of our
County will undoubtedly stimulate us in real work, and will tend to
educate young naturalists by inducing them to co-operate with older
members in the work of collecting and arrangement.
Anxious to assist in the movement to the best of my ability, I
would invite your criticism upon a scheme for forming a collection of
Phanerogamous Plants, and Ferns, which all will admit to be a neces-
sary and interesting part of a county museum.
The late G. S. Gibson, in his "Flora of Essex," states that about
1,070 species of flowering plants and ferns occur in Essex. This is
undoubtedly under the mark, for though Gibson and his assistants
did their work thoroughly, a certain number of plants must have been
overlooked by them, and many new forms and species have been re-
cognised and described since the publication of the "Flora." I