April 1906] proceedings s. i. assm. arts and sciences. 45 



The entire list indicates a curious lot of material from all parts of 

 the world, arrang-ed with but little system or reg^ard for natural affini- 

 ties. The last articles listed on "The twelfth Shelf" g-ive an excellent 

 idea of the way in which collections were arrang^ed in the early days of 

 museum economy, viz.: 

 "8. Stalactite, from Madison's Cave, Vir. — Van Ness. 

 9. French chalk, or craye de Brian9on. 



10. Factitious substance, resembling pumice, from Allaire's Iron- 

 works, Kgg Harbour. 



11. Steatite, from Orford, high up Connecticut River: of which 

 stones and fire places have been made. — Quincy. 



12. Kelp, from Falkland Islands, from the burning of seaweeds. — 

 McKay. 

 13. Several other things." 



It is difficult to imagine what such an exhibit was meant to illus- 

 trate, and it is almost equal to that of the first Philadelphia museum, in 

 which it was said that a stuffed monkey, a thigh bone of a mastodon 

 and a machine for illustrating perpetual motion were placed in the 

 same case, side by side. 



Specimens Exhibited. 



Mr. James Chapin exhibited specimens of sumac branches showing 

 the work of woodpeckers, together with skins of the downy wood- 

 pecker Z?rv^^rt!/^.y Pitbescens jftedia?ii(S (Swains.) , hairy woodpecker £>. 

 vil/osus (Linn.), and highholder Calaptes auratus luieus Bangs, and 

 stated that most of the work was probably done by the species first 

 named. 



Mr. Chapin also exhibited a living specimen of the diamond-back 

 terrapin Malaclemmys centrata Labr., captured at Watchogue. 



Mr. Edward C. Delavan exhibited a large specimen of English flint, 

 probably refuse from King's plaster mills, found in a rubbish heap in 

 Green's field. New Brighton. 



The Secretary read the following review of 



Recent Literature Relating to Staten Island. 



" Affinities of Certain Cretaceous Plant Remains Commonly Re- 

 ferred to the Genera Dammara and Brachyphyllum." Arthur Hollick 

 and Edward C. Jefifrey. Am. Nat. vol. xl (1906), pp. 189-216, pis. 



