July 3, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



9 



series from the coal fields of Illinois, Ten- 

 nessee and Missouri, and from other States, 

 besides important collections from ISTova 

 Scotia, JSTew Brunswick and Brazil. 



The collection has been arranged in the 

 following categories: (1) types and speci- 

 mens intended for studj'-, (2) exposed slabs 

 suitable for exhibition, and (3) unstudied 

 and duplicate material. Some idea of its 

 bulk may be formed from the fact that it is 

 estimated that 1,000 museum drawers, in 

 addition to six large exhibition wall cases, 

 will be required to accommodate it. 



In addition to gathering specimens in the 

 field and labeling them with his own hands, 

 Mr. Lacoe long since engaged the services 

 of collectors in a number of States and the 

 Canadian Provinces, and with their assist- 

 ance and the purchase of private collections 

 has, by the expenditure of perhaps $50,000 

 of his private fortune, succeeded in accumu- 

 lating this enormous mass of material. 



Mr. David White, Assistant Paleontologist 

 of the United States Geological Survey, has 

 devoted many months to the labeling and 

 packing of the collection at Pittston, and 

 since its arrival at the Museum has been 

 almost constantly employed in the work of 

 arranging and cataloguing. Progress has 

 been slow because of the pains taken to au- 

 thenticate each specimen. 



Mr. Lacoe began the formation of the 

 great collection which bears his name, early 

 in the seventies, and upon the organization 

 of the Second Geological Survey of Penn- 

 sylvania, in 1878, it had already assumed 

 such proportions that Prof. Leo Lesquereux, 

 the foremost of American paleobotanists, 

 was detailed by the Director of the Survey 

 to study the collection on behalf of the State. 

 The results of his studies, together with de- 

 scriptions of the larger number of species 

 in the collection, were incorporated by him 

 in his famous work on the ' Coal Flora of 

 the Carboniferous Formation in Pennsylva- 

 nia and throughout the United States,' pub- 



lished as Eeport P of the Second Geological 

 Survey of Pennsylvania. It is safe to say 

 that nearly one-third of the specimens illus- 

 trated in the atlas accompanying the first 

 and second volumes, and the greater part 

 — in fact, nearly all — of those in the third, 

 are in the Lacoe collection. 



Owing to the hurried publication of the 

 third and final volume, in compliance with 

 the time-limit for the work specified in the 

 Legislative act, there were many new forms 

 in the collection upon which Lesquereux 

 had not completed his studies. To this 

 number many more have since been added, 

 and a number of drawings have been pre- 

 pared. Most of these unpublished forms 

 are accompanied by manuscripts in various 

 stages of completion, and in some instances 

 by notes and sketches. The manuscripts 

 have been placed by Mr. Lacoe in the hands 

 of Mr. White, who will assist in revising, 

 verifying and completing Lesquereux's 

 posthumous work for publication. The 

 manuscripts contain descriptions of ap- 

 proximately 125 species or varieties, of 

 which perhaps 80 are new. 



The Collection, as far as described, em- 

 braces about 750 published types, and in- 

 cludes perhaps nearly half of the originals 

 of the American Carboniferous flora. The 

 few others which are still in existence are 

 for the most part in the custody of the uni- 

 versity and State geological museums. 



A number of these new forms were de- 

 scribed by Lesquereux in the Proceedings 

 of the American Philosophical Society, the 

 Catalogue of the Pottsville Scientific As- 

 sociation, and the Eeports of the Geological 

 Surveys of Arkansas, Illinois and Indiana 

 by Prof. D. P. Penhallow in the Proceedings 

 of the National Museum, and by Sir William 

 Dawson in the Canadian Kecord of Science 

 and in his work on the Fossil Plants of the 

 Devonian and Upper Silurian formations of 

 Canada. 



When he gave the plants from the Paleo- 



