Report of the State Geologist. 299 



Statement of the Condition of the Work on the Brachiopoda. 

 Paleontology of New York, Volume VIII. Communicated 

 BY C. E Beecher. 



December 3, 1887. 



The condition of the volume on the Brachiopoda has remained 

 unchanged since the date of the last report of the State Geologist. 



Work was begun upon this volume, on the completion of the fourth 

 volume of the Palaeontology in 1867, and was continued with some 

 lapses until 1878. About one-fourth of the labor may be considered 

 as finished. Twenty- eight plates are lithographed and printed, illus- 

 trating three families and comprising twenty-one genera of Brachio- 

 poda. The remaining twenty-nine plates yet to be done, should, 

 embrace eleven families, comprising about eighty genera. 



Besides the illustration of the general form and characters of the 

 genera, some work has been undertaken towards a study and illustra- 

 tion of the microscopic structure of the shell in the numerous species 

 of this class of organisms. .About two hundred and fifty microscope 

 slides have been prepared, comprising the shells of nearly eighty 

 species and about sixty photographic negatives, illustrating shell 

 structure, have been taken. 



Very little additional material for the completion of this volume, 

 exists in the collections belonging to the State, and considerable field- 

 work must be undertaken before systematic work can be commenced. 

 The very full illustration already given of the twenty-one genera now 

 on the printed plates, will make a disproportionate presentation of 

 the remaining eighty genera, if presented according to the. restricted 

 limits determined by the law and contracts of 1883. It should be 

 borne in mind also that since the incei^tion of this work, several 

 important monographs have been issued in England, France, Belgium, 

 Germany and Bohemia, and the original plan will require radical 

 modification before any creditable work can be published. 



