18 [Assembly, 



Unfortunately we have never had the means of keeping up the 

 State collection as it should have been, with the progress of new 

 discoveries, and, therefore, it has fa] leu into desuetude. I would 

 now most|emphatically recommend that in the arrangement of the 

 recently purchased collection all the good or crystallized specimens 

 of the general collection be incorporated with it, constituting one 

 general collection without the designation of State or national 

 limitation ; and, further, that the New York State collection be 

 arranged in the cases now occupied by the general collection, and 

 that a systematic effort be made to complete it so that it may pre- 

 sent a creditable appearance as an exhibition of the mineral proceeds 

 of the State of New York. 



I believe that the trustees of the museum owe this duty to the 

 State, as a part of the historic record of the geological survey, and 

 to the memory of the State Mineralogist, Dr. Lewis C. Beck. 



The purchase of a large collection of recent corals will add an 

 important feature to the zoological collections of the State Museum. 

 We have been in need of such a collection more than of any other 

 in zoology. This will give an equilibrium to our exhibited collection, 

 leaving still desirable additions in the annelidse and Crustacea, in 

 which departments our collections are still very inferior. 



A collection of land and fresh, water shells has been presented 

 to the museum by Mr. C. E. Beecher. This collection occupies 

 seventy-five drawers of two feet square, and will be an important 

 addition to the molluscan collections of the museum. 



The museum collection of stuffed skins and of skeletons is fairly 

 representative of the vertebrate fauna of New York ; and so long 

 as we have no specialist working in these classes, we need not be 

 anxious to enlarge its scope. Our collection in recent shells is a 

 very creditable one, and, like that of the vertebrates, needs only 

 to be labeled according to the more recent literature on the subject 

 to be a very creditable collection. We may, therefore, wait a 

 special opportunity before making efforts to add to these collections. 

 We shall be able to find room on the upper floor of the museum 

 for this collection of corals, by rearranging some portions of the 

 collection there exhibited and removing other portions not strictly 

 connected with zoology to the floor below. 



With these departments now so well provided for, I would 

 earnestly recommend increased attention in the palaeontological 



