BEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1912. 61 



southern New York and New England, received from the Geological 

 Survey and containing over 200 type and figured specimens, was 

 numbered and catalogued. The entire reserve collection of fossil 

 plants, which fills several thousand draw^ers of standard size, was in- 

 spected and, in large part, rearranged in the new quarters. Consid- 

 erable progress was also made in bringing the card catalogue of the 

 section up to date and in reducing the size of specimens by cutting 

 away as much of the matrix as possible. 



Exhibition collections. — The installations in the exhibition halls of 

 the department of geology were sufficiently advanced to permit the 

 last of them to be opened to the public by the latter part of December, 

 1911, although their final arrangement had by no means been com- 

 pleted by that time. The work continued actively during the re- 

 mainder of the year, and much still remains to be done in the prepa- 

 ration and adjustment of individual specimens and in labeling. The 

 status of the exhibits is briefly as follows : 



Systematic geolog^j^ occupies the eastern section of the «ast range 

 on the first floor, in which the collections are mainly grouped to 

 illustrate severally the materials of the earth's crust (elements, rock- 

 forming minerals, and rocks) ; rock weathering; glacial phenomena; 

 concretions, faults, and other structural forms; calcareous and sili- 

 ceous sinter; volcanoes and volcanic phenomena; cave phenomena 

 and other illustrations of cold water depositions ; deep-sea dredgings 

 and minor geological phenomena; meteorites; problematic chalce- 

 donic deposits; various phases of the phenomenon of the Meteor 

 Crater in Arizona ; and selected and striking forms of cave deposits. 

 Indi\ddual exhibits comprise x siliceous geyser cone; an actual sec- 

 tion of Marengo Cave, Ind. ; a large stalactite and stalagmite in 

 natural position; and large examples of potholes, meteorites, con- 

 cretions, basaltic columns, and glaciated phases. The hall also 

 contains 10 relief maps. 



The exhibits in applied geology, which are located on the north 

 side of the east wing on the second floor, comprise ores and non- 

 metallic minerals of economic value, displayed in 30 cases, and the 

 extensive collection of building stones in 18 cases, besides which 

 there are 13 rectangular pedestals with ornamental stone panels and 

 tops, and several all-glass cases for large ore and other economic 

 materials. Wall surfaces have also been used for the installation of 

 some of the large samples of stone. 



The mineral exhibition, installed on the opposite side of the east 

 wing from applied geolog}^, consists of a systematic series in 14 cases, 

 many large and showy minerals out of classification in 9 cases and 

 the gem collection in 8 flat-top cases, besides a collection of elements 

 and a large cluster of amethystine quartz in 2 small special cases. 



