REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 1913 3I 



The fossil plants from the New York rocks will be assembled 

 in the hall at the elevator landing. As a central piece for the room 

 will be a restoration in life proportions of the unique Devonic tree, 

 Archaeosigillaria, the largest and most complete of the terrestrial 

 lycopod plants known from these rocks. The original of the restora- 

 tion, taken from the Portage rocks at Naples and constituting a 

 flattened trunk ii feet long, has been remounted and cased, as has 

 also the giant sea-weed Neinatophytum from the Devonic rocks of 

 Monroe, N. Y. 



For the very extensive series of invertebrate fossils sufficient 

 case room is not yet available and the necessary money has been 

 provided for the construction of 37 additional cases which are 

 designed to go entirely about the walls of the Paleontology Hall. 



Attention has also been given to the vertebrate fossils. The 

 Cohoes mastodon, a very celebrated skeleton and among the most 

 complete known of the animal, has been set up by Mr Mirguet 

 and in a manner much more effective than its original mounting. 

 The Irish elk and the Asiatic elephant have also been remounted, 

 the skull and tusk of the Ellenville mastodon set together and en- 

 cased, the Harriman tusks and Monroe tusks put together. What 

 is believed to be a fairly successful attempt to restore in natural 

 proportions the extinct giant beaver of this State, Castoroides 

 o h i o e n s i s , has been carried out and the model set up. It was 

 modeled from measurements taken from the skull found at Clyde, 

 N. Y., aided by more complete remains in the museum of Earlham 

 College, Indiana. The workmanship is by Mr Marchand. 



Restorations of the ancient Devonic fishes have been assembled 

 in one case, recolored and effectively mounted. 



A word should be said here in regard to the difficulty of pre- 

 paring these exhibits in paleontology. The rocks of New York 

 produce fossils which are almost exclusively of the invertebrate 

 type and as a consequence the specimens are naturally small and 

 rather inconspicuous except for certain noteworthy exceptions. 

 The problem here is to present the small organisms to the public 

 eye with the same effectiveness as if they were vertebrate objects 

 of notable dimensions. It is needless to state that as natural objects 

 each one is as momentous in its character and in the chain of life 

 as though it attained the dimensions of the mammoth or the mas- 

 todon. Still, in the display of these small objects, all of a high 

 degree of scientific interest, great thought and extreme care are 

 necessary to make the presentation of them perfectly effective. 



