76 STATEN ISLAND INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 
opinion among authorities as to the position and relative impor- 
tance of the Protozoa in the classification of animals. He then 
described the typical species beginning with the simple amoeba, and 
advancing up through the more complicated forms, ending with 
an interesting description. of the Trypanosoma and other blood 
parasites. Special attention was given to those forms that are of 
economic importance and directly affect human beings. 
The meeting of -May 27, 1920, was held: at 8.30 p.m. in the 
Public Museum. 
Mr. Edw. J. Burns recorded the finding of a large snapping 
turtle in Cameron’s woods, Staten Island, May 11, 1920. It was 
a female, weighed 13 lbs., and from nose to end of the tail was 
32 inches in length. Also the butterfly Thecla irus from Great 
Kills May 17, 1920. 
Mr. Edgar Bell and Mr. Burns stated that they had seen a flock 
of about twenty black-crowned night herons at Oakwood April 25, 
1920. : 
Mr. Wm. T. Davis exhibited some twigs of pitch pine and red. 
cedar from the Blue Hills near Boston, Mass., that had been 
gnawed by mice during the past winter, and referred to his exhibit 
of similar specimens at the last meeting. j 
Mr. Edgar Bell stated that he had lately examined a crow’s nest 
containing five eggs at Watchogue. 
The meeting of September 22, 1920, was held at the residence 
of the president, Miss Miriam A. Campbell, 275 Watchogue, Road, 
Westerleigh. 
Mr. Wm. T. Davis exhibited the beetle Calosoma sycophanta L., 
collected in the garden of his home, 146 Stuyvesant Place, St. 
George, June 1920, and read extracts from U. S. Dept. of Agri- 
culture Bulletin No. tor, 1911, by A. F. Burgess, which gives a 
detailed account of the introduction of this beneficial insect into © 
the United States. Adults of this species have been kept alive for 
two years. This is the first record of this beetle from Staten 
Island, though it has been found on Long Island for several years 
