68 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb. 



sive character. This part of the Museum it is proposed to illus- 

 trate further by geological maps, sections, and models. 



" The geographical distribution of any series of formations can 

 scarcely be followed out correctly over a large area without a pre- 

 liminary knowledge of the true geological superposition, or the 

 natural order in which these formations have been deposited. It 

 is now well established that throughout a very large proportion of 

 the whole series of rocks composing the earth's crust, the best 

 means of determining their succession is by their fossils ; it being 

 a fundamental principle of geology that different formations are 

 characterized by different groups of organic remains. The study 

 and determination of fossils thus becomes an indispensable part of 

 a geological survey. But these organic forms are so many and so 

 various, and pass into one another by such insensible gradations, 

 that to make them truly available requires the special attention of 

 a person versed in natural history, and indeed of one who pursues 

 an uninterrupted study of that department of natural history which 

 is devoted to these ancient forms. Hence the necessity of attach- 

 ing a palaeontologist to every important geological survey; and 

 hence no geological museum can be complete without a full and 

 properly classified collection of described organic remains from the 

 fossiliferous rocks of the area which it is designed to illustrate. 



''The second division of the Museum is thus devoted to the 

 palaeontology of our formations. In this division the fossils are 

 displayed in groups, which succeed one another in the order of the 

 formations, beginning with the most ancient. In each group the 

 specimens are arranged in a natural-history order, commencing 

 with the simplest or lowest forms, and rising to the highest ; and 

 to each specimen there is attached a label giving the generic and 

 specific names of the fossil, with its geological formation and its 

 locality. In order that there may be no mistake as to the fossil 

 indicated by the label, the specimens are freed as much as possible 

 from all other fossils. In order at the same time to save space, 

 the specimens have been as much as possible reduced in size. In 

 this operation the services of Mr. T. C. Weston, a lapidary, have 

 been made available ; and his skill has also been applied to slitting 

 many of the cephalopods and other fossils, and rocks, for the pur- 

 pose of showing their internal structure. By this reduction in 

 the size of the specimens we have been able to arrange a much 

 greater number in our limited space than would otherwise have 

 been possible. 



