42 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



plants from western New York and the Catskill region, the other 

 Upper Devonian plants from Scaumenac bay, P. Q., Canada. The 

 new case in the hall of vertebrates is a large wall case devoted to 

 the remarkable Devonian lung fishes and ganoids from Scaumenac 

 bay. A recent Australian lung fish and a recent ganoid from the 

 Nile have been installed for comparison with the fossil forms. 

 The new cases in the invertebrate hall comprise two AA cases of 

 crinoids in the general collection, and an upright case of starfishes 

 and echinoids. The two AA cases of starfishes have been rear- 

 ranged and much new material, lately described, has been added. 



The special exhibit of corals, filling eight AA cases altogether, 

 has been finished. 



Mr Henri Marchand has added four more wax models of grapto- 

 lites to the series in process of construction. This series will illus- 

 trate not only the remarkable variety of forms attained by grapto- 

 lites in the Paleozoic seas of New York, but also the distinct genetic 

 series which they form, from irregular sessile bushes to highly 

 symmetric floating and swimming forms. 



An exhibit of the Pleistocene fossils from the marine invasion of 

 the Champlain basin at the end of the last glacial period has been 

 installed in special cases. In obtaining this fine and comprehensive 

 collection the important observation was made that the marine shells 

 decrease in size and thickness as one goes southward from the 

 St Lawrence region, and that at the same time one species after 

 another drops out, until at the southernmost locality of marine 

 Pleistocene shells at Crown Point, N. Y., and Chimney Point, 

 Vt, only small representatives of Macoma groenlandica 

 Beck and Yoldia arctica Grey are left. From the changes 

 brought about in marine forms where a gradual freshening of the 

 water takes place, as in the Baltic Sea, it is inferred that these 

 facts indicate a gradual decrease in the salinity of the Hochelagan 

 sea southward, until at Crown Point the water had become so fresh 

 that it no longer could support marine forms. The continuation 

 of the Champlain clays proves that the sea itself extended much 

 farther south. 



Guidebook. A Guide to the Paleontologic Collections (35 pages) 

 which purports to give a popular account of the fossils shown and 

 of their biological and geologic relationships has been prepared 

 for free distribution to visitors who are sufficiently interested in 

 the collections to inquire for it. 



Field work. The field work consisted of the two months' col- 

 lecting trip in the Pleistocene and about six weeks' investigation of 



