ARCADIA AND THE BRUCE MUSEUM 
Advisory Board representing the vari- 
ous educational interests of the Town : 
Fred A. Springer, Public Schools; 
Leonard Ochtman, Artists; Niel Mor- 
row Ladd, Birds. In 1916 the late Hon- 
orable Edwin L. Scofield of Stamford, 
Chairman of the original Board of 
Trustees and writer of the Deed of 
Trust, recpiested me to develop the 
museum. That work I have done with 
the unanimous cooperation of the 
Board of Trustees. No one could have 
been more heartily sustained by any 
organization than I have been by the 
Board of Trustees. For that coopera- 
tion I am grateful. 
The gifts and loans to the museum 
have been noted from time to time in 
the local publications, and a record has 
been made of the large number of vis- 
itors, not only local callers but those 
from all parts of the United States and 
from many foreign countries. The 
Bruce Museum is in a class by itself 
so far as it has been developed, and its 
development has been along the lines 
of praiseworthy endeavor. It has been 
our purpose that a museum in this com- 
munity should be. so far as we could 
make it, the best in the world, and even 
now some things in it are not excelled 
by those in any other museum. 
The exceedingly moderate amount 
appropriated by the Town is not nearly 
enough for the full development of the 
museum, nor for its adequate use as an 
educational institution. It is hoped that 
the Town will appropriate more and 
it is even more earnestly desired that 
public-spirited, philanthropic citizens 
of Greenwich may, in like manner, not 
be backward in coming forward. 
ArcAdiA has also thus far achieved 
its great work with a limited amount 
of money. No other educational insti- 
tution in the world has made the dollar 
go so far and accomplished so much as 
has The Agassiz Association in its 
forty-six years of existence. 
Personally and on behalf of the ex- 
cellent boards of management of both 
institutions, I point with pride to what 
has been achieved, not only in develop- 
ment but in work. I call attention hope- 
fully to the enlarged scope of activities 
for the future and invite the fullest in- 
vestigation of every detail pertaining 
to each institution. Both must advance 
to greater usefulness to the public for 
all time. They are for the public and 
63 
must be supported by the public. Hav- 
ing planned and watched every detail 
of the development of both, and having 
joyously noted the successes so far as 
it has been possible for them to go, I 
have unbounded faith in the greater 
possibilities for all time. Visit these 
instituitons, work for them, not in the 
spirit of idle curiosity, not with the 
feeling that they belong to some one 
else, but that you have a vital respon- 
sibility to accomplish in cooperating to 
increase their usefulness. 
Earnestly and faithfully yours, 
Edward F. Bigelow. 
President of the Agassiz Asso- 
ciation, 
Sound Beach, Connecticut. 
Curator of the Bruce Museum, 
Greenwich, Conn. 
Five New Instructive Exhibits at The 
Bruce Museum. 440 Visitors 
Register in August. 
The curators are glad to announce 
that the interesting and instructive 
collection of North American, African, 
Australian, Indo-Pacific and South 
American shells are now classified, la- 
belled and on exhibition at The Bruce 
Museum. Greenwich. This collection 
in the second floor hallway was donated 
by the United States National Museum 
at Washington and contains about 
eighteen hundred specimens. In pack- 
ing and shipping the specimens many 
of the shells became misplaced and their 
scientific names on the labels were in 
great confusion. This necessitated the 
examination of the entire lot in order 
that the correct name be attached to 
each. 
A three and a half foot iguana lizard 
has been placed on view temporarily 
in the mammal room on the first floor. 
This reptile, strange and terrifying in 
appearance, is common in South Amer- 
ica and in the West Indies. It possesses 
a white flesh and is frequently used for 
food in the islands under the name of 
“mountain chicken.” The assistant 
curator has tasted it in his native land 
and found it to be palatable and not un- 
like chicken. 
Two giant sea turtles have also been 
put on view. These are remarkable for 
their beautiful shells and enormous 
hawklike bills. Another South Ameri- 
can exhibit of interest is the huge nest 
of a social wasp. It is creamy white 
