lxxxvi Journal of Proceedings.
thinking it would be better to devote an entire evening to a subject so
important. *
A paper entitled "The Mammalia of Essex," by Mr. Henry Laver
F.L.S., was read by the Secretary [Transactions, ii. 1571].
A long discussion on various details connected with the natural history
of our native quadrupeds was carried on by the President, Dr. Pearce,
Messrs. English, Gould, Cole, Lockyer, Warner, and others. The pugna-
cious habits of the shrew, which it was suggested might account for their
being so commonly found dead on paths, &c., in autumn ; the white
colour of the stoat in some winters; the question of "vermin,'' and the
assumed right of gamekeepers to destroy all animals under that name ;
the former existence of red deer in the Forest, and other matters were
referred to. Mr. English exhibited a photograph of a remarkable aberra-
tion in colour in the common squirrel; the specimen (which was quite
"piebald") had been taken in the Forest in 1858, and was now in the
possession of an inhabitant of the hamlet of Ivy Chimneys, near Theydon.
Mr. Warner called attention to the fact that the otter was still found
in the Lea River. A female weighing thirteen and-a-half pounds was
shot in the private fishery belonging to Mr. E. J. Eastwood, King's
Weir, Cheshunt, on November 20th, 1878, and was recorded in the
' Times.' Mr. Eastwood had informed him that in 1881, he (Mr.
Eastwood) saw three in the same water, and that a very large one had
lately been seen in the mill-stream adjoining, belonging to the Govern-
ment Powder Factory, at Waltham Abbey, by some of the men employed
upon the premises.
A cordial vote of thanks was passed to Mr. English and Mr. Laver for
their communications.
It was announced that the Annual Meeting would take place on the
28th of January. Part 5 of the ' Transactions,' containing 88 pp. of
letterpress and four plates, was on the table. The usual conversazione
concluded the meeting.
Saturday, January28th, 1882.—Ordinary and Annual General
Meeting.
The 24th Ordinary Meeting was held at the Head Quarters, at seven
o'clock, the President in the Chair.
The Librarian announced the donation of a volume to the library by
Mr. B. G. Cole, and that two volumes of the ' Transactions of the
Watford Natural History Society' had been acquired by purchase.
* The matter above referred to, together with the general question of Forest manage-
ment from the Natural History point of view, came on for discussion at the meeting of
the Club held on February 25th, 1882. A full report has been prepared, and will be
issued in the next part of 'Transactions' as an Appendix to Vol. iii., and also in a
separate pamphlet form for distribution,—Ed.