THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 145
The Council are sure that the members generally will endorse most heartily
their recommendation that Mr. David Howard should be re-elected to the
Presidential Chair.
Interim Report on the Central Museum.
[Presented by the Hon. Curator to Annual Meeting, March 28th, 1896.]
I BEG to report that, as far as my time and that of Mr. Mothersole would allow,
work has been carried on steadily during the year. Nearly every specimen in the
old Museum has been overhauled and examined. The specimens stored in the
cottage hired for the purpose have been roughly sorted, and are now ready for a
decision to be come to as to those things which should be rejected as unsuitable
for our purpose, and those which should be retained.
Since the last Report some very interesting Donations have been made :
The Rev. A. W. Rowe, now of Lincoln, but formerly head-master of Felstead
School, has presented a collection of about twenty worked flints, mostly from
Felstead or its neighbourhood.
Mr. Reginald Christy has presented a set of Bats from his own neighbourhood,
Roxwell.
Miss Dixon has presented a very fine Wasps' nest, and Mrs. Leemann and Mr.
Bentall some fossils, which will be useful in the compilation of our proposed
educational geological series.
Mr. Graham has sent some pieces of the Core obtained during the experi-
mental boring for coal at Stutton, being one of the three sets of specimens
preserved. The other two have been sent to Cambridge University Museum and
to the Ipswich Museum.
Mr. Mothersole has presented about sixty species of Crag Fossils from
Walton-on-the-Naze.
The Rev. W. J. Kenworthy has lent, for a limited period, a series of Essex
Flint Implements from his collection, and I have reason to believe that other
gentlemen will either lend or give such specimens.
Glass has been fitted to the two geological cabinets containing the Carvalho
and Hope Collections, and new trays fitted where necessary. A commencement
has been made in arranging the Crag Fossil Collections in glass-topped boxes.
Dr. Laver's various collections (alluded to in last year's Report) have been
received, and they form a most valuable addition to the Museum. The Bats have
been mounted in jars in alcohol and on stands, and a commencement has been
made in arranging the Land and Fresh Water Shells and the Insects.
Mr. Christy's Bats have been also mounted on stands.
The collection of Essex Sea-weeds presented by Mr. Hope has been arranged
in boxes, and most of the botanical specimens have been mounted on papers.
The arrangement of the specimens from the Deneholes, and the Redhill
specimens, presented by Mr. W. Cole, has been almost completed.
All the Birds received from Colchester, and those in the Museum, have been
thoroughly cleaned, kyanised, and mounted on beech-wood stands, and the
labelling of these specimens is being rapidly proceeded with. This is also the
case with the few specimens of Mammalia other than the Bats at present in our
possession.
All the cased birds belonging to Mr. Smoothy have been thoroughly cleaned
and kyanised, and are now in excellent order. The Council has agreed with Mr.