REPORT OF ALBERT D. EAGER, 



ASSISTANT STATE NATURALIST. 



HON, AUGUSTUS YOUNG. 



State Naturalist : 



DEAR SIR. : In compliance with the instructions em- 

 braced in the commission of Assistant State Naturalist which you 

 were kind enough to issue to me, I lost no time in c proceeding 

 to the Geological depot at Burlington. This depot, as you are 

 aware, was a small building near the dwelling house of the late 

 State Naturalist which had been used for a number of years by 

 Professors Adams and Thompson during the continuance of their 

 geological labors. I found that several boxes had been duly pack- 

 ed with minerals, and were in readiness to be forwarded to their 

 final destination. Much the larger proportion of specimens, how- 

 ever, were in trays and required to be carefully assorted prepara- 

 tory to being packed and boxed up. Inasmuch as the value of 

 mineralogical cabinets greatly depends upon the character of the 

 specimens, and a correct statement of their locality and proper- 

 ties, I aimed to pack each mineral and fossil with great care, 

 wrapping with each specimen in all cases the appropriate label 

 indicating its name and locality and in every instance of doubt had 

 reference to the Catalogues which you entrusted to me for my 

 examination and guidance. 



You are aware that the specimens had been twice partly ar- 

 ranged by the late State Geologist and late State Naturalist ; and 

 the disadvantages under which I labored were increased by the 

 system of short hand which Professor Adams used in his memo- 

 randum books. 



This short hand and initials, written for the most part jn pencil 

 were in many cases perplexing and unintelligible. But in every 

 instance where reliable information of the locality of all speci- 

 mens could not be had, they were placed among those where local- 



