University of the State of New York 



New York State Museum 



John M. Clarke State Paleontologist 



Bulletin 80 

 PALEONTOLOGY 10 



REPORT OF THE STATE PALEONTOLOGIST 1903 



To the Regents of the University of the State of Nezv York 



I have the honor to report herewith on the work of this de- 

 partment during the year commencing Oct. i, 1902. 



Operations in the field 1902-3 

 Stratigraphic survey of the Schoharie region. The earliest strati- 

 graphic determinations in New York based on a careful collation 

 of paleontologic evidence were made in the valley of the Scho- 

 harie creek and the region immediately about Schoharie Court 

 House by two generations of the Gebhard family. The forma- 

 tions along the creek south of Esperance are exposed to extra- 

 ordinary advantage and their richness in organic remains, com- 

 bined with the eager zeal for the study of nature possessed by the 

 Gebhards, father and son, led to the appointment of John Gebhard jr 

 as assistant on the original geological survey because of his familiar- 

 ity with the geology and the contents of the rocks in this portion 

 of the first district, then assigned to the charge of Lieutenant Mather. 

 The outcome of this early study of the rocks in the Schoharie valley 

 has made itself effective in the paleontology of New York in many 

 ways. When Professor Hall came to study the paleontology of the 

 formations there represented, he found it imperative for him to rely 

 chiefly for his subject-matter on the extraordinarily fine and com- 

 plete Gebhard collections. The account given by him of the species 

 of the Lower Helderberg and Oriskany faunas, which constitutes 

 volume 3 of the Palaeontology of Nezv York, was so largely derived 

 from these collections that it was deemed wise bv the museum to 



