596 The American Naturalist. [June, 
presided. Saturday the members visited Eel River Falls. The Acad- 
emy was hospitably entertained by the citizens of Greencastle. 
Chicago Academy of Sciences.—April 8th.—Lieut. F. M. Beall, 
Signal Officer U. S. A., presented a paper: ‘‘The Recent Cyclone 
and its Attending Tornadoes.’’—C. E. WEBSTER, Recorder. 
Proceedings of the Natural Science Association of Staten 
Island.—April 10, 1890.—Mr. Ira K. Morris presented a brass spur, 
of Spanish fashion, which was lately plowed up on the Poor House 
farm, and read the following paper in connection with it: 
This spur was found by one of the workmen on the county farm, 
while ploughing, in February last. It is composed of solid brass, and 
the wheel must have originally been at least one and a-half inches in 
_ diameter. Much surprise is expressed by Staten Islanders at the find- 
ing of a spur of its pattern in such an out-of-the-way place. Yet, it 
seems possible to trace its simple history. 
During the Revolution there stood a small Holland cottage, built of 
stone, and with long, sloping roof, on or near the spot where the 
County Alms House is now located. The story is handed down to us 
that it was occupied by a sturdy patriot whose open hatred for royalty 
and whose unfriendliness to the British soldiers gave considerable an- 
noyance to General Howe, who directed that a guard must be placed 
upon the premises until some breach should be committed sufficient to. 
cause his arrest. 
The mounted patrol of the Island*was under the command of Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Simcoe, of the ‘‘ Queen’s Rangers,” and it is said that 
that notorious officer frequently visited the old cottage, not so much 
to test the loyalty or watch the movements of its owner, as to enjoy the 
companionship of his beautiful daughter. 
Colonel Simcoe did not dress strictly in accordance with the British 
army regulations, and Ihave seen a portrait of him in which he wore 
the Spanish spur, with its large wheel. Appreciating, as he must have, 
the superiority of this spur over the small, fine wheel worn by the 
Englishmen, it is only reasonable to assume that his men were provided 
with it also. During the exciting period following the earnest appeal 
of Colonel Aaron Burr to General Washington, to besiege the fortifica- 
tions on Staten Island, especially at ‘ Richmond towne,” a detail of 
Simcoe’s mounted men was made daily for many months. Skirmishes 
frequently occurred near the old cottage, between American troops 
from New Jersey and the ‘‘ Rangers ” and their native Tory friends. 
It was near the close of the war that the severest, and from what we 
now know, the last skirmish occurred in that vicinity. During a 
severe storm, and under the cover of intense darkness, a detachment 
