46 



Museum Bulletin 



The second and third numbers of volume 6, part 1, of the 

 Proceedings was mailed on July 20 to all members entitled to 

 receive the same. The first number includes the period from the 

 regular meeting of the Association on October 15, 1915, to that of 

 January 15, 1916. The second number consists of one article only, 

 the Guy on House, by Edward C. Delavan, Jr., which was read at 

 the meeting held on February 19, 1916. The latter is one of 

 the most valuable and interesting of the many contributions to 

 descriptions of old Staten Island land grants that the Association 

 has issued. It is well illustrated with four plates and contains 

 twenty-six pages of text. The first number, also, is almost ex- 

 clusively concerned with papers of local historical interest, by Ira 

 K, Morris and Arthur Hollick, including an illustrated descrip- 

 tion of Housman's cave near Castleton Corners, in regard to which 

 numerous inquiries have been made by members, and by visitors 

 interested in Staten Island history. 



One of the rarest native plants of North America is the 

 dwarf or erect clematis, Viorna ochroleuca (Ait.) Small. It occurs, 

 locally, on the hills and in the mountain regions from Pennsylvania 

 southward to Georgia. Staten Island is the only locality to the 

 north where it grows, and here its distribution is restricted to a 

 limited area of the serpentine ridge from Todt Hill to Richmond, 

 and one of the sand dunes on the margin of the salt meadows 

 near Watchogue. 



On Monday, June 11, Mr. Norman Taylor of the Brooklyn 

 Botanic Garden visited Staten Island for the purpose of obtaining 

 specimens in flower, to be photographed in color for the forth- 

 coming flora of New York State, which is to be issued as a State 

 government publication. The Director had the pleasure of acting 

 as guide to the Todt Hill locality and assisting in securing the 

 specimens desired. 



The Richmond County Country Club and the residents of 

 the Country Club colony might do much to protect and preserve 

 this rare plant in its native habitat, and they might also make it 

 an interesting feature of their gardens as, apparently, it will stand 

 transplanting if proper care is exercised. 



On Saturday afternoon, July 7, an excursion to Staten Island 

 was arranged by the New York Mineralogical Club. Sixteen 

 members and friends of the club, from New York, Brooklyn, 

 Yonkers and Newark were received at the Museum, by invitation 

 of the Director, and spent about an hour examining the collection 

 of local rocks and minerals, afterwards taking a trip to Todt Hill 

 under the guidance of the Director, where the serpentinoid rock 

 and iron ore deposits were studied and specimens collected. The 

 locality specially examined was the interesting area that was the 

 subject of a lawsuit against the City, described in a paper read at 

 the December meeting of the Association in 1908 and printed in 

 the Proceedings, volume 2, pages 144 - 47. 



