THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
73
Prof. Meldola said that they could not allow Mr. Fitch to retire from the
Presidential chair which he had so admirably filled for four years without
expressing their hearty appreciation of his services. Mr. Fitch had done his best
to make their Club a county club, and they had been more widely recognised
during his presidency than at any other period during the twelve years' life of
the Club. There were many points in Mr. Fitch's remarks about which he should
like to speak, particularly the burning question of technical instruction, but
remembering the peculiar position of the Club with regard to that most important
matter he thought it would be best to imitate Mr. Fitch's reticence. Prof.
Meldola concluded by proposing a very hearty vote of thanks to the retiring
President for his constant and successful efforts to advance the interests of the
Club during his four years of office.
The vote was carried amid hearty applause.
Mr. Fitch thanked the members, and said, although he hoped that the past
four years had been years of progress, he looked upon the Club as being only in
a transitional stage, and he anticipated that further advance would soon be made.
An Ordinary Meeting (the 131st) was then held, Prof. R. Meldola,
F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair.
Dr. Lewis Jones, Mr. D. A. Pelly, and Mr. C. F. Rea, B.A., B.Sc, were elected
members of the Club.
Mr. Wire read the list of additions to the Library, and asked for help by
means of donations of books and money. He stated that the library was already
of considerable value, that many books were awaiting binding, and the rapidly
accumulating pamphlets should be classified, and put into pamphlet cases.
Mr. Walter Crouch exhibited two shells of a handsome scallop from Mauritius,
which has recently been described as a new species under the name of Pecten
crouchi, by Mr. Edgar A. Smith, F.Z.S. (An. and Mag. Nat. Hist., March, 1892).
The type which is in the British Museum Collection is somewhat smaller than
one of the specimens in Mr. Crouch's cabinet. This brightly coloured bivalve is
especially remarkable for the deep ribs and delicate tubular structure of the
external surface of the shell.
Mr. Crouch also exhibited, on behalf of Mr. W. Allen, a series of shells of
Helix virgata from Southend, and two shells of Limnaea auricularia, which were
taken in a pond at High Beach last year by Mr. G. K. Guch.
He also exhibited a pair of claws, a portion of the vestigial hind limbs of the
Indian Python molurus, taken by Mr. Allen from one of the eight specimens
found on the 6th December in a ditch close by the Beckton Road Board School.
These pythons measured in length from six to eight feet. How they came there
is unknown, but Mr. Crouch opined that they had either escaped, or, being found
dead, had been thrown overboard from some vessel on her way up to the docks,
and had then been washed into the ditches.
Mr. Walter Crouch, F.Z.S., read a paper entitled "Notes on Two Days"
Trawling and Dredging on the River Crouch." The paper was fully illustrated
by preserved specimens of the species observed, and by numerous drawings
and diagrams. [See p. 81.]
In proposing a vote of thanks for the paper, Prof. Meldola said that such
work was very valuable as showing the extent of the riches of the marine fauna
of our coast and estuaries. It was remarkable that very little had been done in
this way by local societies. In this the Essex Field Club was setting an example,