1893.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 185 
_ The Cecropia cocoons, occurring commonly on white maples, are 
generally placed near the ends of the long drooping branches, and it 
will be seen from the foregoing that it is probably the safest situation 
afforded by the tree. Near my home there isa small white maple that 
has eight Cecropia cocoons on its branches, but only two of them, from 
their position, can be injured by a woodpecker. 
If a woodpecker is successful in making a hole into a cocoon it is 
nevertheless sometimes disappointed at its contents. I have found a 
cocoon that contained the tough case of an Ichneumon fly pupa 
(Ophion), which had been drilled in the side by a woodpecker, and 
then abandoned, leaving the parasite unharmed. 
Mr. Davis also submitted the following note: 
The tawny thrush or Veery (Turdus fuscescens), has not been- 
reported as nesting on the Island, but during the last spring and sum- 
mer it was not uncommon at Watchogue. Several would often be 
heard singing at the same time, or be seen walking, hopping or run- 
ning, for they do all three, along the wood paths and stopping by the 
way to turn over a countless number of dead leaves for the insects to 
be found beneath them. In every instance they frequented the edge 
of the close timber near to some open or half cleared ground, whither 
they often flew. 
On June 26 I noticed a Veery carrying food in her bill, and was 
thus enabled, after a time, to discover a young bird perched on a log 
in a thick growth on the edge of a’ swamp. On July 10, with Mr. 
Walter Granger, of the American Museum, I heard many Veeries 
singing, but we were unsuccessful in finding a nest of the second brood. 
It seems probable that this thrush has only been plentiful at Watch- 
ogue during the past summer, for just as close attention has been given 
to the district for a number of years, and yet only once before, namely 
in May, 1891, was a Veery heard singing. 
Mr. Arthur Hollick read Notes on Staten Island Clays collected for 
the World’s Fair. Le 
Mr. L. P. Gratacap exhibited berries of Smilox rotundifolia and 
submitted a memorandum in connection with them. an 
Mr. Gratacap also exhibited drawings from microscopic examination 
of rocks to which seaweed had been attached, and read the following 
note: 
The great quantity of rock used in constructing the roadbed of the 
Rapid Transit Railroad along our north shore has introduced upon the 
island a very representative collection of N. Y. Island rock, including 
mica schists, gneiss and granite. It serves the double purpose afford- 
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