22 . NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



acteristic of the Oneonta are found as low as any of the horizons 

 containing tree trunks. At the Manorkill, red beds characteristic 

 of the Oneonta are shown just a few feet above the locality for the 

 tree stumps at the Manorkill. It is apparent, however, from 

 collections made at a higher horizon at the intake of the tunnel 

 4 miles to the south that here the Ithaca fauna prevails and we 

 have an intermingling of Ithaca and Oneonta sediments. The 

 presence of the fresh-water unio Amnigenia catskillensis 

 in a massive sandstone i\ miles northeast of Gilboa and some 600 

 feet above the river at Gilboa clearly indicates that the horizon of 

 this shell is above the tree trunks found at Gilboa. The presence 

 also of an Ithaca fauna on the hillsides above Gilboa indicates that 

 we have an interfingering of the Oneonta and Ithaca sediments. 



This gives us the record of three distinct horizons for the occurrence 

 of these Devonian trees. The geological record is that of three 

 distinct submergences of the land which brought the forest growth 

 down into the water and at least three corresponding elevations of 

 this forest-covered land beyond the reach of the water. The total 

 number of these tree stumps thus far collected, excluding those 

 destroyed in quarrying operations, including those of the first and 

 earlier series, is thirty-five, and all those of the later series the Museum 

 owes to the courtesy of the Commissioners of the New York Board 

 of Water Supply and of Mr J. Waldo Smith, chief engineer, who 

 decided that with the exception of a single specimen presented to 

 the American Museum of Natural History, the emphatic and 

 impressive effect of this most extraordinary occurrence should not 

 be lessened by any further dispersion of these relics. The State 

 Museum therefore possesses practically the entire record of this 

 phenomenon, and the effort has been made this year to restore the 

 occurrence in the form of an exhibit in the central hall of the Museum. 

 Unfortunately this restoration was made when but two tiers of the 

 trees had been uncovered, so that while it is incomplete in effect, 

 it serves an admirable purpose in elucidating the mode of occurrence 

 of these ancient forests. What these trees were, how related to 

 present and ancient vegetation, is still a mystery — one of the 

 problems to be solved. 



Further restorations of fossil invertebrates. The Museum has 

 installed several exhibits showing the sea bottom of various periods 

 in the geological history of the State. These have proved the most 

 effective means of visualizing the life of the Great Past as they 

 rehabilitate the creatures of the ancient seas in accordance with our 

 best understanding of their structure. They are in all cases the 



