This pamphlet is prepared chiefly for the guidance of those visitors to 

 the State Museum who have given little attention to the subject of which 

 it treats ; in hopes that it may render the collections more generally 

 instructive, and aid to awaken a more general interest in geological 

 observation. 



It has therefore not been strictly confined to a description of the rocks 

 of New -York; but a short sketch of the elementary principles of 

 geology, and some account of formations later than those known in this 

 State, have been introduced. 



Those visitors (comparatively very few in number) whose special 

 studies have made all this familiar to them, will not think that too much 

 pains have been used to simplify and explain the subject, when they 

 remember how little clear understanding of it prevails even among per- 

 sons of liberal education. It is to aid in making the State Collection 

 an educational institution that this little epitome has been compiled, 

 mainly from the State Reports on Geology and Palaeontology; and per- 

 sons already acquainted with the science, or who wish to become criti- 

 cally so, will find in those large volumes the most accurate and abundant 

 information. 



L. L. 

 February, 1861. 



