320 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 193 8 



ters, may be very well seen in the close study of such cores. This line 

 of attack on the problems of evolution will be more and more available 

 to the paleontologist of the future. Core drilling for economic prob- 

 lems is rapidly increasing, and several depositories already are avail- 

 able for the preservation of selected cores. If additional cores for 

 which there is no storage room could be sampled and washed so as to 

 be stored in a smaller space, the microfossils at least would be available 

 for future workers after exhaustion of the petroleum or other resources 

 made core drilling no longer of economic interest in that particular 

 region. It is to be hoped that many of the samples now in laboratories 

 connected with petroleum companies may be preserved elsewhere 

 when they are no longer of value to the company. Thus, the future 

 worker may have available a treasure house of material which to 

 duplicate would be an expensive undertaking. 



Similar cores of short length have recently been taken both in the 

 Atlantic and in the Pacific Oceans by quite different methods and for 

 purely scientific purposes. Through the study of their microfossils, 

 much has already been learned of changes in conditions during Pleisto- 

 cene times. Also, it will be possible by a continuation of such methods 

 to learn much of the sediments and even of outcropping formations 

 now deep in the oceans. In time, when methods shall have been 

 developed for taking much longer cores, it will be possible to study 

 the fossil content of areas otherwise entirely unavailable. The possi- 

 bility of core study has much ahead for the future paleontologist. 



As material from cores should be preserved whenever possible, so 

 outcrops, particularly of type localities from which many species have 

 been described, might also be a matter of consideration for preserva- 

 tion. A few localities, especially noteworthy for their vertebrate 

 fossils, have been made into State parks or national monuments. It 

 is possible that other localities or outcrops should be preserved in like 

 manner. The famous Eocene locality at Grignon in France is now 

 preserved and the fossils taken carefully, so that full use is made of 

 them. Certain localities near State or other universities might be 

 preserved in this way with little cost and be made a source of great 

 scientific value to future paleontologists. 



A beginning has been made in a few museums to show to the public, 

 groups representing fossil animals and plants in their probable rela- 

 tionships when living. It would seem an excellent opportunity for 

 making an educational contribution to the general public if more 

 museums would take up this work. With modern methods of group 

 presentation as shown in many museums, it should be possible to make 

 groups to show some of the characteristic animals and plants of geo- 

 logic periods in a series that would be of real interest, and make more 

 alive the facts of paleontology and evolution. This should be a 

 great field of opportunity for paleontologists of the future to recon- 



