May ig36.] proceedings s. i. assx. arts and sciences. 6i 



marks and in the development of local history. I also recommend that 

 we add to the offices of the Association that of a historian, whose duty 

 it shall be to prepare a record for the archives of the Association of co- 

 temporaneous local events and other matter deemed worthy of rescue 

 from oblivion. 



In conclusion I cannot too strong^ly urge the members of the Asso- 

 ciation to maintain their interest and efforts for the enlarg^ement of its 

 influence and the extension of its beneficent purposes. It is the special 

 mission of the Board of Trustees at this time to accomplish these re- 

 sults by devoting to the enjoyment of the public the large and valuable 

 collection of specimens owned by the Association, which is now and 

 for some years has been practically on storage, of little use to the 

 members and none whatever to the community. Our profifer to the 

 City is to turn over our museum for public exhibition and our library 

 for public use, if the City will supply the housing and the expense of 

 care and preservation. So much and much more have been done for 

 other Boroughs, and this Borough is not asking too much of the City 

 when we petition for this niDdest concession to ths civilization, the 

 educational sense, and the refinement of our community. 



We need something else than sewers to take the filth away. We need 

 conduits for an elevating public enjoyment, an informing public educa- 

 tion, an enlightening public opinion, developing moral virtues and 

 gratifying intellectual aspirations. Opportunities along these lines are 

 notably deficient in this Borough. If this Association, by working out 

 the purposes of its incorporation, may bring to the community facili- 

 ties required for its culture and social development, it will have con- 

 ferred benefits that make it worth while to live, and will have intro- 

 duced a new era full of honor to us and blessings to our posterity. 



Dr. Philip Dowell exhibited specimens of fenis and read the follow- 

 ing paper : 



Distribution of Ferns on Staten Island. 



Year by year new tracts of land on Staten Island are divided into 

 smaller plots, and fine pieces of woodland are cleared for commercial 

 purposes. Hand in hand with the disappearance of the forests and the 

 encroachments of the habitations of man the natural beauty of the 

 Island is destroyed, and our native plants and animals vanish. Some 

 of the wild flowers, which are prized for their beauty, like the trailing 

 arbutus, and other plants used extensively for decorations, as the holly 

 the running clubmoss, and several ferns, have been picked in large 

 quantities and thus ruthlessly destroyed. Frequent forest fires destroy 



