148 STATEN IsLAND INSTITUTE oF ARTS AND SCIENCES 
Shore Protective Association is actively working for protection 
of the woods. 
Mr. Wm. T. Davis reported the occurrence of a weasel on 
Staten Island, seen by him while with Dr. James P. Chapin near 
a swamp between Merrell Av. and the Turnpike on May 13. 
This is the first weasel to be reported from the island in a num- 
ber of years. Thirty-five species of birds were seen on the same 
day. 
Mr. Edward J. Burns reported a monarch butterfly, Danais | 
archippus, on May 17, near the American Museum of Natural 
History, not an early record but of interest due to the lateness of 
the season. 
Miss Miriam A. Campbell reported a whip-poor-will near the 
Bird Club Cabin on April 13. 
Mrs. H. M. Trench stated that she had observed some English 
sparrows eating aphids in her garden, and commented on this 
example of usefulness in this bird. 
Mrs. Edna E. Snow told of a robin nesting over the porch of 
her home, University Place, Brighton Heights. 
The Sep. 22, 1923, meeting was held in the Public Museum. 
Miss Katharine Trench exhibited a young box tortoise recently 
presented to the museum. This turtle is becoming rare on the 
island and small ones are not often found. 
Mr. Edward J. Burns showed five specimens of Oestrid fly 
larvae taken from the skin of a raccoon he had prepared at the 
American Museum on Aug. 22, 1923. 
Mr. Carol Stryker exhibited photographs of various scenes and 
places taken during his summer trips and described in detail the 
beaver:dams he had seen in the Adirondacks. 
Mr. Wm. T. Davis showed four Staten Island specimens of 
the beautiful butterfly known as albofasciata Newcomb, a highly 
variable form of Basilarchia astyanax Fab., a common brilliantly 
colored bluish species, the caterpillars of which feed on willow, 
wild cherry, shadbush, plum, apple, etc. The specimens ex- 
hibited were as follows: 
