156 STATEN ISLAND INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 
three large mites that were on the beetle in November had disap- 
peared, but there were many immature ones still present. The 
parasitic mite Gamasus antennaepes Say, collected on Staten Is- 
land in 1880 on the beetle Passalus cornutus, was shown under the 
microscope. The Cychrus is being fed on molasses. 
Mr. Carol Stryker exhibited the salamander Triturus virides- 
cens, which seems to be common on the island only in the ponds 
in the vicinity of the Moravian Cemetery. 
Mr. Charles W. Leng exhibited photographs of the beach at 
Eltingville taken by Mr. P. L. Speer on March 8, 1924, the occa- 
sion of an unusually low tide which exposed much of the beach 
generally under water. 
Miss Katharine Trench exhibited a split cedar log containing 
numerous seeds probably placed there by mice. 
The meeting of April 26, 1924, was held at the home of the 
president, Miss Miriam A. Campbell, 275 Watchogue Road. 
This meeting being the fifth anniversary of the founding of 
the club, a photograph of some of its early members was shown, 
as well as a printed record of its proceedings taken from the Proc. 
STATEN Is. INsrt. 
Mrs. H. M. Trench recorded a flying squirrel captured by a 
friend in a “ catch-’em-alive ” trap on Richmond Hill. The papers 
on jars of jam stored in a closet had been removed and the jam 
eaten. At last the squirrel was caught but escaped. In due time 
it returned, was recaptured, and is now being retained as a pet. 
Mr. Carol Stryker gave an account of the capture of a European 
ferret at Cherry Lane and Manor Road. The animal is on ex- 
hibition in the museum, is quite tame, and feeds on eggs, milk, 
and meat. 
Dr. A. W. Callisen read a paper on the woodchuck as observed 
about his farm near Princeton, N. J., and at Oyster Bay, Long 
Island: 
The woodchuck is a gentleman of the old school who thoroughly 
believes in leisure and of all animals is perhaps the least industri- 
ous except when engaged in digging his hole, when he works away 
at a tremendous rate until it is finished. 
