RE POET OF THE TRUSTEES. 



To the Legislature of the State of New York: 



The Kegents of the University, as trustees of the State Museum 

 of Natural History, submit to you, as required by law, their forty- 

 second annual report. 



For full information concerning the details of the different 

 departments of the Museum, reference is here made to the reports 

 of the Director and Assistant Smock, who is the assistant-in-charge 

 of the State Museum, and the reports of the State Botanist, and 

 the State Entomologist, and the State Geologist. From these 

 reports, it will be seen that very material progress has been made 

 in the legitimate work of the Museum, and in the accumulation of 

 specimens appropriated for the Museum. The minerals especially, 

 which last year had received a very important addition from the 

 collection purchased from Mr. George F. Kunz, has been, during 

 the past year, still further increased. It is now fairly to be con- 

 sidered one of the most important, as well as beautiful, collections 

 in the State. Both in the minerals and in the other collections of 

 the Museum, the effort has constantly been kept in mind to restrict 

 the specimens, as far as possible, to the territory of the State 

 itself. For the purposes of comparison, however, the collections 

 frequently are carried beyond the boundaries of the State itself, 

 and this has been done to some extent in the department of 

 Mineralogy. 



The Zoological collections have been also materially improved 

 during the past year. The purchase of a number of good speci- 

 mens and the repair of the specimens already on hand have greatly 

 increased the value of these collections. 



Important additions to the collections in Palaeontology have also 

 been procured, which especially we desire to mention in this con- 

 nection the collection of " tracks " found in the neighborhood of 

 Port Henry. One of the most interesting of these specimens was 

 laid in the sidewalk of Port Henry, as a part of the pavement. 

 This attracted the attention of Professor Smock, who made efforts 

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