REPORT OF DIRECTOR. 



To the Honorable the Board of Regents of the University of the 

 State rf New York: 



Gentlemen. — I have the honor to transmit herewith the reports 

 of Mr. F. J. H. Merrill, Assistant Director, and of Mr. ¥m. B. 

 Marshall, Assistant in Zoology, showing the nature of the work 

 accomplished and the condition of the collections in the several 

 departments of the Museum on State street. The crowded con- 

 dition of the rooms and the pressing need for more space for the 

 arrangement and exhibition of the collections, especially in the 

 Zoological department is well stated in Mr. Marshall's report. 

 The need of space is equally great in the Geological department 

 while there are no adequate or proper working rooms in the 

 building for either of the departments. 



The duties of the Director in which he is engaged separate 

 him from the building known as the State Museum or 

 Geological Hall, and he is compelled to confine himself almost 

 exclusively to the collection and preparation of material, 

 and the publication of the work on the Paleontology of the 

 State, which is the incompleted work of the original Geological 

 and Natural History Survey of the State of New York. Unfor- 

 tunately the Museum building affords no adequate working rooms 

 or space for the arrangement of the very large collections which 

 have been accumulated for use in this work during its progress. 



By the law of 18b3, these collections were placed in the cus- 

 tody of the Trustees of the State Museum ; the same law pro- 

 vided that the State Hall, whenever it should be vacated by the 

 State officers, should be given into the custody of the Trustees of the 

 Museum to be fitted up for the exhibition of collections and for 

 working rooms for the State Museum of Natural History. A 

 portion of the upper story of the building became vacated in 

 1885 and was fitted up with drawers for the arrangement of the 

 Paleontological collections and for working rooms. In 1886 



