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Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



in schools lacking shop work ; and that some schools having 

 manual training submitted work of the highest rank. 



The prices placed on the various bird boxes by their respec- 

 tive makers proved a source of considerable amusement. A few 

 excellent wren and bluebird boxes were marked as low as twenty 

 and twenty-five cents, while one fantastic structure was labelled 

 three dollars and fifty cents ; and one boy had rated his rather 

 elaborate, but not altogether practical, log-cabin house at six 

 dollars ! 



That considerable interest was taken in the bird boxes when 

 exhibited at the Museum was indicated by the four hundred and 

 fifty visitors who came during the first nine days of the display 

 for the express purpose of viewing the houses. About fifty of the 

 houses were sold to the public — one purchaser taking eight 

 houses and two others buying five each. The money received for 

 them was returned to the juvenile builders of the houses in all 

 parts of the island. H. h. c. 



Among the many valuable and timely publications recently 

 issued by the United States Department of Agriculture is 

 Bulletin No. 175, on Mushrooms and Other Common Fungi, 

 by Flora W. Patterson and Vera K. Charles. This is a pamph- 

 let of sixty-four pages and thirty-eight plates, containing descrip- 

 tions and illustrations of practically all the edible and poisonous 

 fungi with which anyone is likely to come in contact, either in- 

 cidentally or if interested in collecting and studying them. The 

 object of the publication is explained in the opening paragraph of 

 the introduction as follows : " The desirability of a Government 

 publication for free distribution by the aid of which the amateur 

 collector may distinguish poisonous and edible species of fungi is 

 suggested by the present-day tendency to popularize science, 

 the increased general interest in nature-study subjects and the 

 special interest manifested in the subject of mushrooms." 



Parts I and II, Volume V, of the Proceedings, issued April 24, 

 are being mailed to members of the Association. Only mem- 

 bers in good and regular standing are entitled to receive the 

 Proceedings. 



