44 



NEW YOKE STATE MUSEUM 



Palaeontology. 



The work of printing the Palaeontology of New York, volume 8, 

 part 2, was suspended in December, 1893, owing to the exhaustion 

 of the appropriation for that purpose, and the appropriation pro- 

 posed at the session of 1894 failed through causes beyond the 

 control of the author.* The manuscript for the completion of 

 the volume has long been in the hands of the printer, except 

 that for the index, which can not be completed until the last 

 form of the text shall have been put into pages, in order to make 

 reference to the page number. It is greatly to be regretted that a 

 volume which was completed, with the exception of a few pages, 

 in December, 1893, should remain unpublished until 1895, and I 

 have endeavored to make such arrangements as will secure the 

 publication of a few copies during the present year. 



Work in palaeontology generally has progressed very satisfac- 

 torily. The plates for the second part of the hand book have 

 been either lithographed or are in the hands of the lithographer, 

 and the text is nearly all in type, so that there will be no delay 

 in this publication. 



The work upon the fossil sponges has been carried on so that 

 the drawings are essentially completed, and fourteen plates have 

 already been lithographed but not printed. 



There is also in progress a paper upon the fauna of the upper 

 members of the Oriskany sandstone as occurring in the neigh- 

 borhood of Hudson and along the west side of the Hudson river 

 in the neighborhood of Kingston and Rondout. This paper will 

 form a subject for a future report. 



A memoir of the fossil Bryozoa, which has been in preparation 

 for some years, will also be communicated in a future report. 



The report upon the Livonia salt shaft, which was communi- 

 cated in the report of 1892, and withdrawn for revision and com- 

 pletion, was communicated with the report for 1893, and in every 

 aspect forms a very valuable paper concerning the geology and 

 palaeontology as well as of the economic products of the forma- 

 tions passed through in the progress of the work. 



Yery respectfully submitted. 



JAMES HALL, 



State Geologist. 



* See Documents. 



