Museum Bulletin 



A new exhibit has been installed in the general biology 

 room, consisting of four skins of the Greater Bird of Paradise 

 (Paradisia apoda.) These are part of a lot of 527 skins that were 

 seized at Laredo, Texas, January 29, 1916, by the Division of 

 Customs, U. S. Treasury Department. The birds were victims of 

 the trade in plumage and feathers for millinery purposes. 



In common with other wild bird plumage their importation 

 into or sale in the United States is prohibited by law, and they 

 were seized and originally condemned for destruction in accord- 

 ance with the provisions of the law. Subsequently, however, the 

 Government decided that the skins might be made to serve a use- 

 ful educational purpose by distributing them to certain museums 

 throughout the States, under written pledge that they would be 

 guarded against theft and neither sold, exchanged or given away, 

 and that they would be displayed with a suitable label explaining 

 how they came into the possession of the museum. 



The conservation of wild bird life, for esthetic as well as 

 economic reasons, is rapidly becoming the policy of all civilized 

 countries, not only by prohibiting the killing of their own native 

 birds but also by prohibiting the importation of feathers and 

 plumage from other countries. As a concrete example of what 

 the United States is doing in the latter connection these skins 

 constitute an interesting exhibit, aside from the beauty of color 

 and form of the plumage. 



On September 11, 12 and 13 the Director had the privilege 

 of acting as guide for Mr. Alexander Gershoy of the New York 

 State College of Agriculture, who is engaged in collecting botani- 

 cal specimens for the college herbarium. The salt marsh flora 

 of the island was studied and collected in the vicinity of Old Place 

 and Mariner's Harbor ; the Clove Valley was selected as the best 

 region for fresh-water swamp and pond plants ; Todt Hill was 

 visited for the express purpose of collecting fruiting specimens of 

 the rare upright clematis, Viorna ochroleuca (Ait.) Small ; and the 

 sand dune region from Kreischerville to Prince's Bay was explor- 

 ed for specimens characteristic of the pine barrens. 



Staten Island has always been a favorite collecting ground 

 for botanists, on account of its geographic location and the diver- 

 sity of its geologic and topographic features, which have resulted 

 in the establishment here of a flora of unusual extent and variety. 

 Several of our local species of plants are not recorded from else- 

 where in New York State. 



On Saturday next, September 29, the Stony Brook Associa- 

 tion will hold its annual reunion at the Stony Brook site, on the 

 Amboy road at New Dorp. Those who wish to join in making it 

 an all day social occasion may bring luncheon. The usual patri- 

 otic program, consisting of music and addresses,will begin at 2 p.m. 



The circular of announcement is signed by Ira K. Morris, 

 president ; Mary Walcott Green, secretary ; Ida Dudley Dale, as- 



