r8 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Toward the close of the year, Mr J. N. Nevins was sent to visit the 

 rooting slate quarries of Washington county, for tlie purpose of 

 obtaining fall information concerning their geology and commercial 

 features. A large seri'es of specimens was collected, and photo- 

 graphs were taken at nearly all the quarries to illustrate their work- 

 ing. These materials will • be used in making a representative 

 exhibit of tbe slate industry in the state museum. As the study of 

 the slate region was not completed in September, but was continued 

 into the succeeding fiscal year, the detailed discus.-ion of this work 

 will be found in next year's report. 



.The clay and shale industry, which is so prominent among the 

 mineral activities of New York, and which was discussed at length 

 in bulletin 12 of the state museum, has increased to such an extent 

 that a new edition of that work has become necessary, and Dr 

 Heinrich Ries, the junior author of the former publication, has. 

 been charged with the labor of preparing it. Much field work is 

 necessary for this, and the report will probably be published next 

 year. As a preliminary step, Dr Ries made an examination of the 

 valley between Rondout and Port Jervis. Some notes on that 

 region are contained in the following pages. 



Mineralogy 



An important piece of work accomplished in this subject was 

 the rearrangement of the duplicate minerals 'according to their 

 sequence in Dana's System of mineralogy^ and the cataloguing of 

 the drawers. This has already resulted in the saving of considera- 

 ble time in effecting exchanges and referring to the duplicates. 

 The duplicate minerals are stored in part of the drawer case at the 

 foot of the basement stairs. 



March 23 and 24 an examination was made of a collection of 

 minerals which Mr S. C. H. Bailey, of Oscawana, wished to sell to 

 the museum. With proper arrangement this collection would be a 

 magnificent addition to the museum's mineralogic department, but 

 Mr Bailey's price for it, while not excessive, places the collection 

 far beyond the reach of the museum, unless a special appropriation 

 can be secured for its purchase. 



