FOR COUNTY LOCAL SOCIETIES.
187
purposes alluded to, in accordance with some such scheme as 
the following:—
1. That the local Society should in each year lay before the
Education Committee of the County Council proposals and
plans for any explorations or investigations which in the opinion
of the expert committee of the Society, are worthy of being
undertaken, and that on approval the estimated sum required
for the work and for the publication of the report be allocated
to the Society.
2. The committee of the Society having accomplished the
work, should prepare a detailed report, with such maps and
illustrations as may be necessary. This report might be printed
in the journal of the Society, copies being struck off for sale.
Or the reports might be issued on a uniform plan for the whole
kingdom. In any case the reports should be issued at a very
cheap rate for distribution to the public.
3. Any sum unexpended might be returned to the council, or
carried to the next year's work.
4. In selecting the subjects proper for such a series of investi-
gations the peculiar conditions and requirements of each county
will be considered. Taking Essex as an example, the following
may be suggested :—
(a) The accurate surveying and plotting down on large-scale
plans of typical prehistoric remains, particularly of such as may
be in danger of destruction, and the careful exploration of the
same under expert direction.
(b) The preparation of accurate lists and of maps of the
county, showing the positions and mode of occurrence of any
relics of prehistoric age hitherto found therein, with indications
of the museums or collections in which they are preserved, and
references to any published details and figures.
(c) Exploration work in the shallow-water districts of the
North Sea and in our estuaries and rivers, so as to collect
materials for full and accurate lists of the marine and fresh-
water fauna and flora, and to study the conditions regulating the
occurrence of each form where possible.
(d) The mapping out of the distribution of inland plants and
animals, having like regard to the conditions of their occurrence;
the study of the varying conditions of agriculture and gardening
in different parts of the county.