
1869.])) © - SENATE—No. 60. 43 
Although our collection of fossils is in many respects unsur- 
passed, many things are still necessary to give it the value it 
should have to accomplish the ends in view. Assistance for 
cleaning and mounting the specimens is imperatively necessary. 
At least two persons could be employed on this work for the 
next year without going out of the material already catalogued. 
There is also need of some expenditures to complete the series 
of forms now in our stores, which having been purchased from 
many hands, require considerable additions to fill the blanks 
which remain. We ought also to have at least one collector 
constantly at work on our American rocks, in order that our 
representation from them be more complete, and that we may 
haye ample means for exchange. Itis no exaggeration to say 
that for every lot of carefully collected American fossils we can 
obtain valuable European specimens, which would cost us twice 
or thrice as much to purchase as we pay by exchange. The 
assistant is now preparing a map to show the regions from 
which we have collections of American fossils to guide the 
work of collecting, should it be concluded to undertake it. 
The most serious deficiencies are to be found in the collections 
from the Southern States. The war prevented collection for 
many years, and the disturbed state of the country has made 
it difficult to get collectors to go there since its close. Now 
that this difficulty is removed, there should be more attention 
paid to the rich Cretaceous and Tertiary localities so generally 
absent in the seaboard Northern States. Several correspond- 
ents are very desirous of haying collections from that region. 
Since the resumption of work in September, several exchanges 
have been prepared for our European correspondents. During 
his journey, the assistant in charge of this department, was so 
fortunate as to make arrangements which secure this sort of co- 
operation on the part of about a dozen valuable correspondents, 
in addition to the thirty or more already on our books, to whom 
collections will be forwarded as rapidly as possible. 
The assistant in Paleontology has given thirteen lectures of 
a course on Paleontology, which will be continued during the 
remainder of the present term and part of the next. The 
second part of the course will be especially devoted to instruc- 
tion in the identification of fossils. 
