20 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
In the event of the Club dissolving, the collections and cabinets
in the Museum belonging to the Club to become the
property of the "Public Body."
(4.) That the above offer be first made to the Chelmsford Corpora-
tion, but in the event of their refusing the same, or failing to come to an
arrangement with the Club within three months after the date of the
offer, then that the offer be extended to other Public Bodies in the
County.
The above resolutions were sent to Mr. Chancellor as Mayor, on March
4th, 1897, and have, the Council understands, been brought before a Meeting
of the Town Council of Chelmsford, and their decision is now awaited.
The Council are fully aware that the above offer can only be considered a
tentative one—any final settlement of the matter must rest with the whole
Club at a Special Meeting called for the purpose.
So much depends upon the decision of the Town Council of Chelmsford,
even with regard to the location of the Museum, that it will be best to defer
any extended report on the work in it until this vital question has been decided.
Work has been carried on steadily during the year so far as time and funds
would allow. Mr. Smoothy's loan Collection of Birds has been removed by
him, at his own suggestion, inasmuch as they were not local, and the Curator
had no power to arrange the specimens with the other collections in regular
order. The other birds in our possession have all been mounted on stands, and
labelled and arranged in the wall cases. The greater part of the collection of
Birds' Eggs has also been arranged species by species in glass-topped boxes ;
the Club's collection of Land and Fresh-water Shells has been put up in
boxes by Mr. Mothersole most skilfully, and the valuable series of Pleistocene
Mollusca has been determined and arranged by Mr. W. M. Webb. The
collections illustrating the Red Hills, the Denehole Explorations, and the
collection of Flint Implements have also been arranged. As also the collection
of Bats and Reptilia. A beginning has been made with the Insects,
Crustacea, and other classes of Invertebrata, as well as with the very large
collection of Red Crag Fossils. The Club has purchased a small collection of
Red Crag Fossils from Walton-on-Naze, from Mr. Brown, formerly of that
place, to the cost of which Mr. Round, Mr. Shenstone, and Mr. Howard
kindly contributed.
But the Curator's work is now much hindered by the want of funds,
both capital and income, and it would be unreasonable to expect that much
progress can be made until these are provided.
Mr. G. P. Hope has added to his former valuable donations a very fine
case of Birds ; the specimens are not from Essex, but they have been accepted to
represent several rare species until Essex specimens can be obtained. A
donation of about 30 species of local Birds' Eggs has been received from Mr.
F. Brown, of Chelmsford, and Mr. Crick has presented three mounted
specimens of Essex Birds.
In connection with presentations to the Museum of the Club, the Council
wish to emphasize the conditions under which above specimens and collections