MUSEUM BULLETIN 



OF THE 



#iat£tt Jslauii Assnriatum of Arts mb ^rinirrs 



EDITED FOR THE PULICATION COMMITTEE 



BY CHARLES LOUIS POLLARD, CURATOR-IN-CHIEF 



No. 44. Published Monthly at New Brighton, N.Y. MARCH, 1912. 



THE NEXT MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION 



Will be held in the assembly hall of the museum, Stuyvesant Place, and 

 Hyatt Street, St. George, on Saturday evening, March 16, 1912, at 8:15 o'clock. 

 Mr. John B. Golden will deliver an illustrated lecture on "The Military 

 Academy at West Point." 



J. Q. ADAMS, 



Acting Secretary. 



.Children that visit the museum invariably display more interest in liv- 

 ing specimens than in mounted or stuffed ones, and partly on this account 

 it has been the policy of the museum to keep live animals on exhibition in 

 the general biology room on the second floor. Some of these, being less 

 adaptable to artificial conditions than others, have pined away. Such has 

 been the case with the opossum, clapper rail, blue-tailed skink, tree toad, 

 two newts, toad fish, spotted salamander, red-bellied terrapin and a number 

 of Florida chameleons. One chameleon, several turtles and a bright-eyed 

 flying squirrel are still with us; and to these have recently been added a cage 

 of six living meadow or field mice. These little creatures are exceedingly 

 quick of motion, with black, shining, beadlike eyes that are ever open and 

 watchful. They have diminutive tails, very short legs, thick coats of fluffy, 

 grayish-brown fur and an appearance not unlike minature muskrats, with 

 the exception of their tails. They are very different from house mice and 

 it is hoped that the children as well as the "grown-ups" will grasp this fact. 

 There are persons who are apt to believe that mice are mice, and birds are 

 birds, and who refuse to be convinced that there are almost endless species 

 and varieties of each. We have even heard of one man who insists that mice 

 are nothing but young rats. 



The meadow mice, of which the exhibition in the museum are examples, 

 abound in all parts of rural Staten Island where open fields, orchards and 

 salt meadows occur, and are beyond a doubt our most abundant mammal. 

 The captives were taken by hand from their runways under pieces of 

 tarred paper that have for years lain spread upon the ground on a portion of 

 Lake's Island, near Linoleumville, Staten Island. The little creatures seek 

 shelter from storms and exposure under the water-proof tarred paper and 

 each spring and fall numbers of meadow mice may be captured here in the 

 manner above mentioned. The mice have now been in the museum for two 

 weeks and are apparently happy and as contented as mice can be, thriving 

 on a diet of apples and oatmeal. Ordinarily meadow mice are herbivorous, 

 but occasionally they develop carnivorous and cannibalistic tendencies, for 

 even in the wild state they are known to fall upon each other in mortal 

 conflict, the victor devouring the body of his adversary after the fray. 



The sixth course of Friday afternoon children's lectures, which is now 

 progressing, includes three talks on "Plant Life" by Miss Pollard, and a 

 special lecture, to be given on March 22, by Mr. Pollard, the subject of which 

 is "A Trip to Cuba." 



Recent accessions to the museum and library have been received from 

 the following : Harold Aubry, James Ball, Wm. T. Davis, Miss S. Jennie 

 Kingsley, C. W. Leng, Henry Martin, Sanderson Smith, Ballingall Sullivan. 



Entered as second-class matter in the Postoffice at New Brighton, N. Y., under Act of Congress of July 16. 18S4. 



