State Museum of Natural History. 21 



tained valuable data for an instructive paper of the graptolites, es- 

 pecially as to the development of the base or initial point of the or- 

 ganism. 



The collection is so extensive in number of specimens that the mu- 

 seum may well supply to other similar institutions a share of its du- 

 plicates. 



The Curator has considered it desirable to make some farther in- 

 vestigation in regard to the relations of the Oneonta sandstone and 

 the underlying rocks, a problem of much importance in the geological 

 record of the State, and one which requires still farther inquiry before 

 a satisfactory determination can be made. Geological sections and 

 collections were made in the counties of Delaware, Otsego, Chenango 

 and Madison. These collections illustrate the order of succession 

 among the strata in several localities, and will be of use in the final 

 comparisons and determination of this question. 



During the past summer it became necessary to verify some former 

 observations upon the relations of the Niagara and Lower Helderberg 

 groups, with the Hudson River group in the neighborhood of Catskill, 

 which had heretofore been published in the New -York reports, and 

 which more recently had been controverted. The observations es- 

 pecially made sustain the views formerly published regarding the un- 

 conformability of the higher groups with the Hudson Eiver group be- 

 low, still leaving, however, a wide field for further investigation and 

 the determination of many interesting questions regarding the geo- 

 logical dynamics of the periods named. 



Current Work oe the Museum. 



In addition to the current work pertaining to ttu care and preserva- 

 tion of the several collections of the museum, the catalogue, etc., as 

 already mentioned, other work has been going on for the advancement 

 of the museum collections. 



The work of cutting translucent sections of fossils for mounting on 

 glass, and of cutting and polishing other fossils for illustrating their 

 structure, as well as cutting and shaping specimens for illustration and 

 for placing in the cases, has been carried on as usual. 



The total number of translucent sections of rocks and fossils cut 

 and mounted on glass during the year is about 213. Specimens of 

 fossils cut and shaped, ground for resting on shelf or block, and pol- 

 ished, number 360. 



Taking advantage of our facilities for cutting and polishing speci- 

 mens, the authorities of the normal school at Cortland sent to the mu- 

 seum a considerable number of specimens of fossils from their collec- 

 tions proposing that these be cut and polished, and the museum retain 

 a part of the material thus acquired, as payment for the labor be- 

 stowed. The proposition was accepted and the work done ; a part of 

 the collection has been returned to the normal school at Cortland, and 

 the museum retained forty-five specimens, which are enumerated in 

 the list of additions to the museum collections. Both institutions 

 have profited by this intercourse, and the Curator would be glad to ex- 

 tend to any of our educational institutions similar facilities. 



