76 EEPORT OF THE SECEETARY. 



Louisiana Division of Geology. — Owing to the importance of the iron 

 ores of iN'orthern Louisiana, a division of geology was established, with 

 Mr. Lawrence C. Johnson at its head, to investigate the localities in 

 this region in which iron ores were known or supposed to be deposited. 

 Mr. Johnson has performed a large amount of preliminary work, bnt 

 his materia,! is not yet in such a condition as to permit of publication. 



PALEONTOLOGY. 



Division of Vertebrate Paleontology. — In continuing his systematic 

 work of collecting fossils in the West, Prof. O. C. Marsh states the 

 two objects he has had especially in view, as follows: First, to deter- 

 mine the geologic horizon of each locality where large series of verte- 

 brate fossils were found, and, second, to secure from these localities 

 collections of the more important forms sufficiently extensive to dis- 

 close, if possible, the life history of each. With the paucity of remains 

 of plants and invertebrates in many regions of the West, the value of 

 vertebrate fossils, especially of the higher types, in enabling us to get 

 a more accurate and detailed geologic record, is manifest. It is hoped 

 that the collections of the remains of the vertebrate life throughout the 

 Eocky Mouutian region in past ages, now being made, will aiford the 

 means of solving many profound problems, since some of the most im- 

 l>ortant chai)ters in the history of life on the globe are recorded here 

 alone. 



The success of Professor Marsh and his assistants in their held work 

 has been most gratifying, and the more difficult work of classifying the 

 extensive collections secured has been systematically and rapidly 

 carried on. 



Paleozoic Division of Invertehrate Paleontology. — The field operations 

 of Mr. C. D. Walcott, the chief of this division, were directed as follows: 

 (1) The continuation of the study of the Devonian strata and contained 

 faunas in Southern and Western New York; (2) the study of Cambrian 

 strata in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee, and the collection of fossils 

 from numerous localities; (3) the examination of a number of sections 

 of Cambrian strata in Central Nevada and Northern Utah and the col- 

 lection of fossils; (4) the taking of a section of the Permian formation 

 in Southern Utah and the collecting of fossils from three local ities in 

 the section, and (5) the examination of certain Middle Cambrian rocks 

 from Columbia County, New York, and the collecting of Lower 

 Silurian fossils in Central New York. In these operations he was as- 

 sisted by Prof. H. S. Williams, who is preparing a monograph on the 

 Devonian faunas, and by Messrs. Cooper Curtice, A. M. Gibson, 

 S. W. Ford, W. P. Kust, and others. With the data now in his pos- 

 session, Mr. Walcott believes that most of the Paleozoic fossils hereto- 

 fore collected in the entire Eocky Mountain region can be referred to 

 their true stratigraphic horizons, but farther study will be needed on 



