IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT RESPECTING THE
PUBLICATIONS OF THE CLUB.
I very gladly announce that, after careful consideration and con-
sultation with the most active members of the Club, the Council has
decided to make a bold alteration in the mode of issuing our publications.
In future the 'Transactions' and 'Proceedings' of the Club will be
combined in the form of a monthly periodical, under the title of 'The
Essex Naturalist, being the Journal of the Essex Field Club.'
The 'Essex Naturalist' will contain Papers read before the Club, or
which may otherwise be placed in the Editor's hands, Reports of
Meetings of the Club, and, as space allows, a special feature will be
Short Notes, treating of the Natural History, Geology, and Pre-historic
Archaeology of Essex, so that the journal may serve as a medium for
inter-communication between the members on subjects included in the
programme of the Society. Notices of Books, and other publications
concerning Essex, will also appear from time to time, and it is hoped
that the journal, when fully developed, will form an interesting register
of the scientific activity of the county, whilst serving its primary purpose
of keeping the members of the Essex Field Club promptly informed of all
club news and proceedings.
I am sanguine enough to think that the change will not only increase
the interest of our members in the doings of the Club, but will greatly
extend its usefulness as a practical Society; and by encouraging an
inflow of new members, will ultimately add considerably to the scientific,
and financial resources of the institution.
In the duty of conducting our monthly periodical, I rely upon the
ready help and encouragement of all well-wishers of the Club, and of all
who are desirous of extending a love of natural history studies and
amusements in Essex, and among the dwellers in the eastern environs
of London. The five volumes of 'Transactions' and 'Proceedings' now
completed, together with the 'Report on the East Anglian Earthquake'
(the first book of the kind ever published in England), form a record of
work accomplished during the yet short life of the Club, upon which our
members may justly be congratulated, and work which has added very
considerably to the advancement of natural knowledge in Essex. I
trustfully hope that the Essex Field Club will not lose the position it has
gained, and that the 'Essex Naturalist' will be one agency at least by
means of which the influence and credit of the Society may be enhanced
in the time to come.
WILLIAM COLE,
Hon. Sec. and Editor.