
1869. ] SENATE—No. 60. 13 
Some of these specimens are valuable in themselves, as rep- 
resenting rare or new species; some others, like those obtained 
from Messrs. Lyell, Bronn and Marcou, and which mostly 
compose this collection, have a historical value, and are precious 
as mementoes of some of the most celebrated geologists of our 
time. 
The distribution of these specimens according to the forma- 
tions to which they are referable, and to their original propri- 
etors, is as follows :-— 
Tertiary, Bronn’s collection, ; ; 92 specimens. 
tf Duval’s as , : 4T 6 
Cretaceous, Bronn’s ‘“ ’ : 35 $4 
Lias (of Virginia, by Mr. Wheeler,) , ; 30 3 
Carboniferous, Bronn’s collection, : 82 
= mostly from Lyell’s elastin. 123 “ 
Devonian and Silurian, Marcou’s “A : 20 ie 
Specimens of coal and lignite, Bronn’s 
collection, F 25 aA 
Specimens of fossil oy 4 of tier pallid: 
Bronn’s collection, . ‘ : : ; 18 a 
Total amount of specimens, . - 472 
It was surmised in the former report that the Museum could 
this year obtain a large supply of specimens from Morris and 
Mazon Creek, Illinois, two contiguous localities, with strata 
identical in geological horizon and lithological characters, and 
which have become justly celebrated for the beauty of the 
specimens of fossil plants which they have furnished to science. 
But the want of place for the exhibition of large specimens 
prevented our spending money or making special exertions for 
increasing the collections of fossil plants. The only acquisition 
made for this department of the Museum, therefore, has been 
that of a lot of one hundred specimens in concretions, repre- 
senting fossil plants from Mazon Creek, with twenty other 
specimens from the same place, representing the remains of 
animals of the coal measures, especially Crustacea. These, 
presented to the Museum by the curator, together with two 
specimens of wings of insects from the carboniferous measures 
