60 FORTY-FOUKTH REPORT ON THE StATE MuSEUM. 



D. D. Luther, of Naples, N. Y., with whom some negotiations have 

 been made. 



With the aid of Mr. Charles Schuchert, the Assistant Palaeontolo- 

 gist has also made some collections from the Oriskany sandstone 

 on Becraft's Mountain, near Hudson. 



Mr. Jacob Van Deloo has collected from the Potsdam sandstone 

 at the Ausable Chasm, and Chazy limestone at Keeseville. 



The Museum is under especial obligations to Sir William 

 Dawson, of Montreal, for the donation of a series of specimens 

 illustrating the remarkable fossil sponges described by him from 

 the Levis formation. In addition to these the same gentleman has 

 generously contributed interesting specimens of brachiopods and 

 other fossils, as seen in the accompanying list. 



The need of more extensive and systematic work in the 

 collection of fossils from faunas in our own State is poignantly 

 felt. Of the rich primordial faunas our representation is 

 meager in the extreme. Private individuals and representatives 

 of the U. S. Geological Survey have carried on extensive opera- 

 tions among the early rocks of the State securing materials which 

 it may not be possible to duplicate for years to come. From 

 lack of means the State Museum has been unable to enter into 

 competition with these collectors, or to make any serious effort to 

 secure for itself a series of these most important fossils. The 

 study of these primordial faunas as developed in our own State 

 has in other places awakened the greatest interest and enthu- 

 siasm, and we do ourselves and students of geology throughout 

 the State of New York an injustice in not providing, in the State 

 Museum, the means of illustrating them. The time of the Assist- 

 ant Palaeontologist is given almost exclusively to the preparation 

 of the Palaeontology of New York. Field-work can not be under- 

 taken by him at present without equivalent neglect of his more 

 immediate duties. There is no other member of the staff who 

 can be called upon for such services without similar neglect in 

 other directions. The needs of this department urgently call for 

 the services of an intelligent and muscular man, who could be 

 kept in the field during the months suitable for such work, and be 

 busied with the more mechanical work of conservator for the 

 remainder of the year. Such a man might be obtained at a 

 moderate salary, and his services be equally useful to the depart- 

 ments of Geology, Mineralogy and Palaeontology. 



