668 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



locality and formation indexes will prove very serviceable to 

 students of New York paleontology everywhere. For this reason 

 I communicate herewith a copy of this catalogue for publication 

 as a part of this report. 



General paleontologic collection in the state hall. This collec- 

 tion consists of a very large amount of material contained in 

 3547 drawers and eight large table cases, with an overflow packed 

 in 444 large boxes of various sizes, and one stack holding a ton 

 or more of slabs. The material in boxes is that for which no 

 drawer space can be found or which has been put aside because 

 of inferior quality. When this collection was installed in its 

 present quarters in 1886, a systematic arrangement of the princi- 

 pal part was then initiated and in part carried out. Since that 

 time however very little labor has been expended on the careful 

 selection of material from this immense store, which should serve 

 the ultimate purpose of a reserve for the exhibition collections of 

 the museum. These drawers contain good and bad alike. From 

 this supply collections of fossils were for many years made up for 

 the use of schools, and, as a natural consequence, specimens of 

 fair and good quality being always taken for this purpose, the 

 general collections now contain a large residuum of inferior and 

 to some extent worthless material commingled with that of better 

 quality. It has been my desire to have all of this material care- 

 fully and systematically studied for the purpose of setting aside 

 a permanent reserve of superior specimens to illustrate the fossil 

 faunas of the state, a reserve which shall be kept absolutely free 

 from farther encroachment; and at the same time to eliminate 

 from this disordered mass all material of lower grade which may 

 be assigned to purposes of exchange or to meet other demands. 

 This is a work requiring much time but one which I regard of 

 first importance to the quality of our collections. It will serve to 

 show not only the points in which the collection is strong and 

 well represented but also the respects in which our representation 

 is weak and in need of addition. It will furthermore contract 

 the space occupied by the collection and afford much needed room 

 for the constant accessions. In this work of revision of the gen- 



