r32 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



No. of 

 Common name Scientific name specimens 



Miller's thumb LTranidea gracilis {Heckel) 2 



C. H. Walters, donor. 



Common gurnard Prionotus carolinus (Linn.) 8 



JS'orthern striped gurnard Prionotus strigatus {Otiv. <& Val.) 24 



leaked goby Gobiosoma bosci {Lacepede) 66 



Toadfisb Opsanus tau {Linn.) 7 



Whiting Merluccius bilinearis {Mitch,) .... 1 



A. P. Latto, donor. 



Tomcod .... Microgadus tomcod ( Walhaum). . 8 



Codling ^Urophycis tenuis {Mitch.) 2 



A. P. Latto, donor. 



Summer flounder Paralichthys dentatus {Linn.). ... 7 



Common flatfish . . Pseudopleuronectes americanus 



( Walhaum) 15 



Window pane *Lophopsetta maculata {Mitch.) . . 3 



American sole Achirus fasciatus Lacepede 32 



REPORT OF WORK O^ THE COLLECTIONS OF 



MESOZOIC AND CENOZOIC FOSSILS IN 



GEOLOGICAL HALL 



The first three weeks of November 1897 were spent in arranging 

 the Mesozoic, Cenozoic and Quaternary collections of fossils from 

 the United States. It was found necessary to relabel the entire 

 collection in order to bring it into accord with the latest nomencla- 

 ture and classification. The old labels were in a number of 

 instances incomplete, and sometimes the generic as well as the 

 specific identifications were at fault. 



No attempt was made in relabeling the collections to change in 

 any way the localities from which the fossils were stated to have 

 come. This can never be done with safety, owing to the wide geo- 

 graphic distribution of nearly all species. Very few forms of life 

 in the fossil world are confined to one locality, though most are 

 limited in vertical range. The same forms which flourished in the 

 British Isles as early as the Carboniferous period grew also in the 

 Alleghany mountain region of the United States, and the same 

 might be said of the fauna as well as the flora. 



