80 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
June, and that the members of the Museum would be printed in that list as mem-
bers of the Club.
Mr. Chancellor thanked the members for electing him as President, and
proposed a vote of thanks to Dr. Laver and to the officers of the Club. This was
seconded by Mr. J. C. Shenstone and carried unanimously.
Dr. Laver returned thanks on his own behalf and on behalf of the other
officers.
The meeting was then made a Special one, for the consideration of some
additions to and alterations in the rules.
The Hon. Secretary explained the alterations and additions of and to the rules
which had been most carefully made by a small Sub-Committee and by the
Council, and which were rendered necessary by the amalgamation of the two
societies. Proofs of the new rules were placed in the members' hands.
[The principal additions were the incorporation of the stipulations contained in the
Agreement for Amalgamation passed at the Special Meeting, held on January 31st,
1891, and printed in The Essex Naturalist, Vol. IV., pp. 236—241, and the
establishment of a class of Associates, limited in number, elected by the Council on the
recommendation of the members, paying a smaller subscription. The alterations are,
that the subscription for new members shall he not less than 15s. per annum, to include
The Essex Naturalist (the subscription for new members after the amalgamation
now stands at £1 1s.); the change of date of Annual Meeting from January to
March; a modification of the mode of nomination of the officers ; and consequent
additions and alterations.]
An amendment by Mr. Avery to the effect that retiring members of the
Council should stand for re-election without re-nomination, was, by permission of
the meeting, put to the vote, but was lost, and the rules, as altered and added to,
were passed nem. con., and ordered to be distributed to the members as the rules
of the Club.
On the resumption of the ordinary business of the meeting, Mr. Edmund
Durrant, the Secretary for thirteen years of the Essex and Chelmsford Museum,
exhibited a portrait in oils of the founder of the Museum, the late Mr. Thomas
Clarkson Neale, formerly governor of the county gaol. The portrait was lent by
Mr. Neale's daughter, who is still living in Chelmsford. Mr. Durrant alluded to
the way in which the deceased gentleman started the institution and the good
work he did. He was connected with it from 1828 to 1862, and was Hon. Secre-
tary for nearly a quarter of a century. His views as to the functions of a local
Museum were evidently somewhat in advance of his time, but Mr. Durrant
expressed a hope that under the care of the amalgamated societies the old Essex
and Chelmsford Museum "would take a new lease of life, and before long realise
the intention of its founder by becoming one of the best natural history and
scientific museums in East Anglia."1
Mr. Durrant also exhibited, on behalf of Master Vigne, the eldest son of
Mr. Vigne, of Writtlewick, a very curious nest, constructed by mice. Last autumn
a string of chestnuts—beloved of boys—was left in a basket in an aviary in the
garden, and recently it was found that the string had been cleverly disintegrated
1 A very interesting article by Mr. Durrant on the foundation and early history of the
Museum appears in "The Essex Review" for April (vol. ii., pp. 113—118). As soon as the
amalgamation is legally completed we hope to publish an account of the Museum and the Club,
with full details.—Ed.