678 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



lower Siluric faunas of the Lake Champlain basin. Mr Van 

 Ingen for a number of years past has been carrying on investiga- 

 tions relating to the succession of faunas in the Calciferous, 

 Chazv and Trenton limestones of the Lake Champlain basin. 

 This is an area of these early rocks which has heretofore received 

 comparatively little attention, where the faunas are profuse and 

 the fossils fairly well preserved. On account of the fact that, 

 when Prof. Hall's original descriptions of these faunas were pub- 

 lished, he was obliged to depend very largely on his private re- 

 sources for the material on which his investigations were based, 

 the state museum has an insufficient representation of these im- 

 portant early faunas, and Mr Van Ingen has consented to carry 

 on his investigations under the auspices of this department with 

 the understanding that the museum shall become the owner of 

 all the material collected. With Dr Ruedemann, Mr Van Ingen 

 has worked in this territory, and we have the assurance of very 

 profitable material returns from this work as well as important 

 contributions to the knowledge of the older rocks when the re- 

 sults of these investigations shall have been published. 



1 Oct 1899 



Respectfully submitted 



John M. Clarke • 



State paleontologist 



