10 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
Excavations for building and improvements. From the casual 
manner in which these workings penetrate rock formations with 
respect to productive mineral zones they are hardly calculated 
to furnish the wealth of mineral specimens met with in mining 
and quarrying operations. It is, however, true that many rich 
finds such as, for example, the dumortierite of New York island 
have resulted from excavations for foundations of buildings, 
sewer diggings and other municipal improvement works. The 
accessibility of these excavations to the centers of population 
often results in a more careful study of the excavated material 
and in the finding of obscure mineral occurrences which might 
otherwise escape notice. Rocks exposed in railroad cuts and 
tunnels may also be said to constitute an important subclass 
under this head and possess the added advantage of being perma- 
nently available for collecting purposes. 
Prospects. The use of rudimentary mining tools and methods 
is of considerable value in the acquiring of mineral specimens 
particularly in regions where mining and quarrying operations 
are not generally pursued. In most cases a knowledge of the 
prevailing dip and strike of the country rocks and of the location 
of the zones of contact between their strata will enable the col- 
lector to reach with the aid of a pick and shovel points where 
the component and accessory minerals occur in well crystallized 
aggregates. In some cases a blast exploded in a properly drilled 
hole will amply repay for the expense and trouble incurred, but 
of course such procedure should be attended with the greatest 
caution. 
EXPLANATION OF LIST 
In the following tabulated list of localities the first and fifth © 
columns contain the numbers which have been assigned to each 
locality in order to furnish a ready and convenient means of ref- 
erence. The second column gives with as much detail as is 
available the geographic position of the localities grouped under 
counties and towns. As far as possible definite geographic 
locations have been substituted for old names of farms, etc.; it 
has been the author’s experience that it is at present extremely 
difficult to locate the original mineral locality by the old farm 
name. The third column gives a list of the mineral species 
