44G vinv YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Of the 5044 types of fossils, Cambric to Devonic, in the New 

 York state museum about 4500 are from the Paleozoic rocks of 

 New York state, and with very few exceptions were figured in 

 the official publications of the museum. These statements seem 

 to require no further comment. 



Catalogue of fossil faunas of the state. During a part of the 

 .jear Mr C. A. Hartnagel was engaged in the compilation of a 

 -card catalogue of the fossil faunas of all our paleozoic rocks. 

 Such lists have never been prepared, and a catalogue has seemed 

 to me imperative to enable us to note in how far our own col- 

 lections retain the recorded representation of these faunal 

 lists. The work is however not merely one of compilation, but 

 requires for its perfection much careful review, and the elimina- 

 tion of the synonymous names, and really for its best useful- 

 ness, a grouping which shall be a better expression of the 

 relations of the faunas than the mere bringing together of the 

 species under the general names of the formations. The lists 

 are very large, running up into the thousands of species, and it 

 is believed that it will serve a useful purpose to put this event- 

 ually in published form, as has been done for the ancient faunas 

 of other countries. 



Determination of Rochester shale fossils from western New York. 

 Mr Hartnagel was engaged for part of the jear on the deter- 

 mination of the fossils contained in a large amount of material 

 brought in from the Rochester shale of Middleport and other 

 localities in western New York. As the representation of the 

 foesils of this formation in the state museum has heretofore 

 been somewhat meager, though containing many fine examples, 

 this work has served to extend our knowledge of the fauna and 

 has added a number of hitherto unrepresented species to our 

 •collections. 



Study of fossils of the Ithaca formation. In connection with the 



problems relating to the Ithaca fauna, to which fuller reference 



has already been made, Mr Charles Butts was engaged for some 



time on the identification of the material collected during the 



reason of 1900. Mr Butts's familiarity with the species of the 



