4 Thirty-eighth Annual Report of the 



the embarrassment and delay is occasioned by the cost and time re- 

 quired for the preparation of the illustrations. And it is impossible to 

 procure such printing done with satisfaction under such a system of 

 public printing as is provided by law for the legislative reports. The 

 increased appropriation now provided for the Museum will enable the 

 Trustees to print in appropriate style whatever the scientific workers of 

 the Museum may prepare. 



The Trustees announce to the Legislature that under the provisions of 

 the law passed in 1883 the first of the new volumes on Palaeontology was 

 published last May. It is on the Lamellibranchiata, and contains de- 

 scriptions and figures of the Monomyaria of the Upper Helderberg, Ham- 

 ilton and Chemung groups. It is a volume of xvii and 268 pages, and 

 is illustrated with forty-five plates. Another volume in this series is to 

 be issued during 1885, which will be a continuation of the Lamelli- 

 branchiata. It is believed by the Trustees that under the provisions of 

 this law this great and monumental work will be completed within the 

 time designated. 



The fitting up of the State Hall for the Museum, as provided by the 

 law of 1883, has been necessarily delayed by the continued occupation 

 of the building by the State officers. It may still require some time for 

 the removal of all the departments of the government into the new 

 Capitol, and until this is accomplished the plans of the Trustees for ar- 

 ranging the building cannot be carried out. In the mean time, how- 

 ever, the importance of providing fire-proof storage for the more valua- 

 ble treasures of the Museum has led them to make a beginning. The 

 east side of the third story of the building has been vacated, as well as 

 several rooms in the basement. Accordingly the Trustees procured a 

 careful measurement of the building, and a study of the means by which 

 it might be adapted to the future wants of the Museum. Mr. Perry, 

 Commissioner of the Capitol, kindly and gratuitously made the 

 plans of the building and advised in reference to the repairs and changes 

 which the building would require to adapt it to the purposes intended. 

 Professor Hall, with the aid of Professor J. C. Smock, prepared a care- 

 fully devised scheme for the allotment of the space in the building. It 

 is the purpose of the Trustees to carry out this plan and this allotment 

 as rapidly as the room is vacated. The available space in the third 

 story has been fitted up with drawers for the working and storage rooms 

 of the future Museum, and the removal of the material to these rooms 

 has been begun and will be carried forward as fast as possible. 



It was found by the architect, when work on the rooms was begun, 

 that the building itself was in need of material repairs. The roof re- 

 quired a thorough overhauling, and the chimneys and walls, and all the 

 floors, not only in the rooms but the corridors, required to be relaid. 



