REPORT OF DIRECTOR, 



To the Begents of the University of the State of New York : 



Gentlemen : — I liave the honor to submit herewith the report of 

 Mr. John C. Smock, lately Aasistant-in-charge of the State 

 Museum, containing a summary of the work for the current year, 

 the condition and arrangement of the collections and the addi- 

 tions thereto etc. up to the end of September, 1890. 



The retirement of Mr. Smock on the 1st of October has left 

 the records to be completed by Mr. Marshall to the present date. 



The Bulletins already published furnish an account of the 

 important work done by Mr. Smock in Economics and by Mr. 

 Marshall the Assistant Zoologist. The annual report of the 

 State Botanist, the State Entomologist and the State Geologist 

 which accompany this report will furnish a record of the work 

 done in these several departments. 



The appointment of Dr. Frederick J. H. Merrill as Assistant 

 Geologist and in charge of the Museum has added an efficient 

 and earnest worker to the Museum staff. 



Dr. Merrill's specialty is in the direction of geology proper or 

 physical and stratigraphical geology, and his services in that 

 direction will fill an important place in the work of the Museum 

 and in field work preparatory for the geological map, which I 

 regard as of the first and highest importance to the educational 

 interests of the state. Until a geological map of the state can be 

 presented to the student in that department of study there is 

 comparatively littla use in placing before him collections of 

 rocks, minerals and fossils, for he has no proper means of asso- 

 ciating these objects as he should have with certain localities and 

 areas as within the limits of the state. 



With a geological map before him as a source of reference he 

 at once acquires a general knowledge of the geographical distri- 

 bution of the rocks which furnish fossils and those which furnish 

 the minerals, ores, etc. and will very naturally come to an appre- 



