176 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



waiting to be admitted to the assembly room, and the attention and good 

 order which prevail during the progress of the lectures. At the close of the 

 course this year, as on the same occasion last year, the children prepared and 

 signed a petition for a continuance of the lectures; but it was not deemed 

 advisable to arrange for any more so late in the season. 



The complete schedule, together with the attendance records, is included 

 in the appendix, and an analysis of the schedule will show the wide range of 

 subjects treated in the lectures: various phases of natural history, as plants, 

 birds, whales, snakes, etc.; travel talks on South America, Haiti, the Arizona 

 desert. Bahama Islands, Hawaii, Holland and Switzerland, etc.; civic matters, 

 as fire prevention, relation of the police to the children, etc.; photography; 

 fairies; the story of the telephone, etc. 



To the good friends who gratuitiously gave their services as lecturers the 

 director takes advantage of this opportunity to formally express his appre- 

 ciation of their courtesy and his gratification at the cordial relations which 

 they have thus assisted in establishing and maintaining between the museum 

 and the several institutions which many of them individually represent. 



Museum Extension Work 



The conditions that obtain in connection with our museum give relatively 

 little opportunity tor extending its activities and scope ot usefulnessas compared 

 with other similar institutions. Every effort, however, has been made to 

 keep in touch with other museums, by professional and social visits, by ex- 

 change of lectures, etc. The director, in cooperation with Dr. N. L. Britton, 

 Director of the New York Botanical Garden, prepared the manuscript for a 

 revised edition of the Flora of Richmond County; prosecuted a limited amount 

 of research work at the Garden; delivered a lecture in the 1915 autumn course, 

 on the fossil plant collections contained in the Museum of the Garden, and 

 acted as guide on Salt Water Day, September 8, at Great Kill, when the 

 botanists in attendance at the twentieth anniversary celebration of the Garden 

 visited. Staten Island. 



The director and Miss Agnes L. Pollard, curator, attended the Washing- 

 ton meeting of the American Association of Museums from May 15-18, 

 on which occasion Miss Pollard took part in the conference of museum in- 

 structors, giving an address on Experimental Examinations, and subse- 

 quently remained to attend, by invitation, the annual meeting of the American 

 Federation of Arts. 



Mr. Cleaves was actively engaged, as usual, in missionary work on behalf 

 of the birds, as the general director ot work for the Staten Island Bird Club and 

 through the medium of his lectures before the Boy Scouts and at public schools 

 on Staten Island and elsewhere. During the past year twenty-one such 

 lectures were delivered by him to audiences estimated as totaling over 6,000 

 persons. A detailed report from Mr. Cleaves is appended. 



Incidentally the director recently had the privilege of serving as field 

 instructor in geology on a trip across the terminal moraine, arranged in con- 

 nection with a class of high-school students, and has had the honor of serving 



