78 REPORT OP^ THE SECRETARY. 



sively to office work. As a result of this Le i)ie})are(l for the Sixth 

 Annual Eeport of the Director a paper entitled " Synopsis of the Flora 

 of the Laramie Group," profusely illustrated. Early in the ])resent 

 fiscal year Prof. Ward prosecuted field work along the bluffs of the 

 Potomac and Eappahannock Rivers. He also made an expedition down 

 the James to City Point and up the Appomattox to Petersburg. In 

 these trips he was accompanied at different times b}' Prof. W. M. Fou- 

 taiue, 31r. W J McGee, and Mr. F. H. Knowlton. In the office he 

 l^repared technical descriptions of the species figured for publication, 

 without description, in the Sixth Annual Eeport of the Director, and 

 drew them u]} in the form of a bulletin of the Survey, entitled " Tyi^es 

 of the Laramie Flora," and numbered 37 of that series. Prof. Ward 

 is making satisfactory progress in the extensive bibliographic work he 

 has undertaken in connection with his subject. Prof. Leo Lesquereux 

 has undertaken the preparation of a volume of descriptions and illus- 

 trations of Cretaceous and Tertiary plants. 



Prof. Fontaine devoted the period which has elapsed since the date 

 of the last report to the continuation of the study of the younger Meso- 

 zoic, or Potomac, formation, both in field and office. He discusses the 

 plant material which has beeu collected from both a geological and 

 botanical point of view, since the plants fill a most important gap in 

 geologic records. Both the geologic and paleontologic reports will soon 

 be ready for the i)rinter. 



Division of Fossil Insects. — At the beginning of the present calendar 

 year Prof. Samuel H. Scudder, the greatest living authority on the sub- 

 ject of fossil insects, was appointed to a position on the Survey, and 

 placed in charge of n division designated " The Division of Fossil In- 

 sects." He has devoted his time thus far (1) to the collection of insects 

 from the peat deposits of Nantucket; (2) to a determination of insects 

 from the interglacial clays of our northern border; and (3) to a system- 

 atic study of the Carahidm of the Oligocene beds of the Florissant. 

 Mr. Scudder also prepared for publication as a bulletin of the Survey 

 a review of oar present knowledge of fossil insects. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Division of Chemistry and Physics. — In this division Prof. F. W. Clarke 

 reports slight changes in the force and equipment for the present 

 year; but a few additions have been made in each direction. A lai-ge 

 portion of the work done by Prof. Clarke and his assistants, Messrs. 

 Chatard, Hillebrand, Gooch, Whitfield, and Eiggs, in the chemical lab- 

 oratory, was of a routine nature, and. grew out of applications for the 

 determination of rocks, minerals, and waters submitted by the various 

 heads of geological divisions or by the other branches of the Govern- 

 ment. But some attention has beeu given to original research. In the 

 latter work, the chemical division has profitably co-operated with Mr. 



