ANNUAL REPORT.
33
hospitably received at the Tiptree Heath Fruit Farm by Mr. Wilkin and his
family. At the Annual Fungus meeting on October 6th we had the great
benefit of the assistance of Dr. Cooke, Mr. Massee, F.L.S., Mr. R. Paulson,
Mr. F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, and Mr. Frank Smith The Council are fully
sensible of the honour conferred upon the Club by the Countess of Warwick
in consenting to open the Museum on October 18th and the ceremony was
rendered the more valuable by the excellent address delivered by her Lady-
ship on that occasion. The thanks of the Council are also due to Prof.
Meldola for the address delivered by him at the opening ceremony, and to
Mr. E. N. Buxton for kindly taking the chair at the meeting on December 8th
in support of the Forest Museum. An experiment was made on July 20th
and 21st to interest the members in the collecting work of the Museum by
means of two dredging excursions in the Colne Estuary. The Council regret
that financially the experiment was unsuccessful, although otherwise the
meetings were exceedingly interesting; there were, however, some drawbacks
in weather and possibly other reasons for non-attendance, and the experiment
might well be repeated with a somewhat varied programme. The whole of
the above-named meetings have been, or will be, fully reported in our Journal.
Essex Naturalist.—Members are referred to the paragraph on this
subject in the last Annual Report. Two parts were published within the
financial year, and much matter is in type ready for another part. The Council
has again to thank Mr. H. A. Cole for some drawings for reproduction and
Mr. F. W. Reader for assistance in getting matter ready for press. Mr.
Reader has also kindly presented the blocks for use in the memoir of General
Pitt-Rivers. But as this memoir will not be published until 1901 further
reference to the matter will be made in next year's report.
Essex Museum of Natural History.—With respect to the Central
Museum the Curator again finds it desirable to postpone a full report until
the various collections are in a more forward state of arrangement. Many
changes will be made during the ensuing summer, and the cases now being
made, or refitted, will much improve the Museum. The members are again
referred to the Museum Handbook, No. 5, and to the various reports in the
Essex Naturalist which contain most of the business details. The build-
ing was finished in the early part of the year and in April the temporary
premises at Forest Gate were given up, and the whole of the collections,
cabinets and cases with the books, were removed to the new Museum. Mr.
Passmore Edwards' munificient donation of £1,000 enabled the Municipal
Technical Instruction Committee to fit up the very handsome Museum wall-
cases and floor-cases now in the Museum. As soon as the furniture was in
position, the Curator commenced the preliminary arrangement of the collec-
tions, so as to get the space available at least planned out before the date fixed
for the opening of the Museum. In this high-pressure work he was greatly
assisted by Mr. W. H. Dalton, Mr. J. E. Harting, Mr. H. A. Cole, and Mr.
F. W. Reader. Mr. Dalton commenced the arrangement of the students'
geological collections, and Mr. Harting put together and presented to the
Club the very interesting collection of birds and trappings to illustrate the
modern practice of Hawking which now adorns the Central Hall. A great
many birds and mammalia were obtained and preserved by Mr. Pettitt and
Mr. Burton, the Club's taxidermists, and a commencement was made with