270
ANNUAL REPORT
existence of the Club, and a justification for the appeal for a larger measure of
support from all interested in the progress of science in Essex. The editor begs
to repeat and emphasize his request made in last report for more "Notes" of
original observations, which are always so welcome and encouraging.
The Essex Museum of Natural History.—Substantial progress has
been made at the Museum during the past year. Many new cases have been
constructed and fitted up, and very great improvements have taken place in the
mode of exhibiting the specimens, particularly in the substitution of rectangular
glass jars in place of cylindrical ones, for specimens in fluid. Among the series
that have been re-arranged are the fishes, the reptiles, and the Marine Invertebrata.
In connection with the latter collection a large scale map showing the deeps and
shallows of the British seas has been prepared by Bartholomew, of Edinburgh,
and Miss Gertrude Woodward has made a series of eight large-scale drawings of
the principal types. Many very interesting specimens have been obtained from
the Marine Stations at Plymouth and Naples, and a part of Mr. W. Cole's
specimens obtained in the Colne Estuary have been mounted.
One small room has been devoted to the illustration of such subjects as
mimicry and protective resemblance, etc., in insects, and some very beautiful
examples have been obtained from Swinhoe and Bastin. This collection is not
yet finished. Some coloured drawings have been specially made for these
collections by Miss Jane E. Cole.
Other zoological collections worthy of special notice are the fine series of
models, specimens, drawings, and tablets, illustrating the ancestry of the horse —
put up as an object-lesson in the facts of evolution ; a series of specimens of the
Cephalopoda, so arranged as to show the progress or decline of the various groups
in geologic time, and to lead up to the exhibition of the species still living in
Essex waters ; also a series (not yet quite finished) showing the primitive forms
of Vertebrates and the allied Ascidians, etc. ; the Essex species as obtainable
being exhibited in this series.
In the gallery of the Museum the mineral collection has been partly arranged
in accordance with the printed catalogue prepared by Dr. Auden before his
regretted resignation as head of the chemical department in the Institute. The
students' series of fossils in the four inclined cases, which was commenced by Mr.
W. H. Dalton, F.G.S., and which owed so much to his generosity both of
specimens and valuable time, is being overhauled. The fine collection of fossils,
presented to the Club by Dr. Horace Browne, F.R.S., has permitted great
improvement in the selection of specimens, and the mode of labelling and
arranging has been altered so as to make the series of use to biological as well as
geological students.
The Council has great pleasure in acknowledging the very valuable services of
Mr. Thomas W. Reader, F.G.S., in connection with the collection of typical rock
specimens, now being prepared for exhibition in the table-cases on the right-hand
side of the gallery. For some months past Mr. Reader has devoted two or three
days a week to this work, and has, moreover, presented many specimens from his
own collection, to go with the collections presented by Mr. Dalton and Dr. Horace
Browne. It is hoped that the rock collection will be completed in the course of
a few months.
On the botanical side of the Museum work is only commencing, and any
remarks had best be postponed until next report. But the beautiful series of large
original drawings of the principal groups of Essex plants, prepared by Dr. M. C.