REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 



Albany, December 4, 1888. 

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

 State of New York: 



Gentlemen. — According to the requirements of the law organ- 

 izing the State Museum, I beg leave herewith to communicate my 

 annual report (being the forty-second in consecutive order) upon 

 the condition of the collections in the several departments as far 

 as the same have come under my knowledge or direction; also a 

 statement of the additions made thereto, and the work done in the 

 Museum proper during the past year. 



The last preceding annual report has already been printed and 

 delivered. 



The accompanying communication from Professor Smock con- 

 tains a full and detailed account of the operations of the Museum 

 during the past year under the heads of current work, arrange- 

 ment and rearrangement of collections. Full lists of the additions 

 to the collections in the several departments of Botany, Zoology, 

 Mineralogy and Geology, and to the Library. It is therefore 

 unnecessary for me to enlarge upon this record.* 



In the report of the Geologist it will be necessary to make 

 reference to some of the lists of specimens here presented, since 

 they were expressly collected, or otherwise contributed, or pur- 

 chased for the use in vol. VIII of the Palaeontology of the State. 



Owing to my constant occupation in collecting and preparing 

 material for the completion of the volume upon the Brachiopoda, 

 I have been unable to devote any time to matters specially con- 

 nected with the current work of the Museum. The collections of 

 fossils, however, and the arrangement of the same for study and 

 illustration, although done in preparation for the Palaeontology, 

 do become of the highest importance to the Museum collections, 

 since they show the result of special labor and investigation, and 



* These lists are published as they came from the assistant in charge, without revision 

 or alteration by the Director. 



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