THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.—REPORTS OF MEETINGS. 167
SPECIAL MEETING.
The meeting was then declared a Special one (in accordance with the intimation
sent to members by circular) for the consideration of the following alteration
in the rules, proposed by the Council :—
In Rule X , after the words, "January in each year," insert the
following :—
" Provided, nevertheless, that any two or more members of the same family,
who reside in the same house, and are willing to receive between them only one
copy of the Club's Publications, may become Ordinary Members of the Club,
and shall enjoy all the privileges of Membership (except that they shall receive
between them only one copy of the Club's Publications, as above) in return for
the usual Entrance Fee in respect of each Member (in the case of new Members),
and a joint Annual Subscription of One Guinea for the first two Members and
Six Shillings annually for each additional Member."
The President explained the reasons which had led the Council to recommend
this alteration, and proposed it on behalf of the Council. The motion was
seconded by Professor Meldola, F.R.S., and Mr. Howard, and carried
unanimously.
Thanks to the President, the Council, and Officers.—Prof. Meldola
proposed that the cordial thanks of the Club should be accorded to Mr. Christy
for his services as President during the year. He said that all members of the
Club who attended any of the meetings would heartily concur in his appreciation
of the care the President had given to its affairs, and the business ability he had
exercised as its head.
Mr. W. M. Webb seconded the motion most heartily, and proposed that the
vote should include all the officers and members of the Council who had devoted
so much care and attention to the affairs of the Club.
Prof. Meldola agreed to this, and the vote was carried by acclamation.
The President returned thanks on his own behalf and on behalf of his
colleagues on the Council and the Officers.
The meeting then adjourned until the evening.
THE 245th ORDINARY MEETING.
Saturday, April 7th, 1906.
This meeting was held at the Technical Institute, Stratford, at half-past six,
Mr. Miller Christy, F.L.S., President, in the chair.
New Members.—Mr. Herbert O. Jacobs, 133, Osborne Road, Forest
Gate, and Mr. Herbert E. Rains, 5, Sackville Gardens, Ilford, were elected
members. 
Black Rat in Essex.—Mr. W. Cole exhibited two specimens of Mus rattus
which had been sent to him by Mr. Pettitt, the taxidermist, from "a locality in
Essex." The records of the capture of this species in the county were very few,
with the exception of specimens from the docks ou the Thames, where sometimes
Black-Rats, which were presumably escapes from foreign-going ships, were
caught.
Mr. Christy remarked that the specimens exhibited seemed to his eyes hardly
typical, and he suggested that they might be hybrids between the true M. rattus
and the Brown Rat (Mus decumanus).