P('r.'<oii(il iititJ Scl<'iifi\fic Xcii'K. 408 
in the summer months, partly by the iUness of the meu, clue to the pre- 
valence of malarial fever, and partly to other unforseen obstacles : but 
the conditions have improved and the work is now advancing with 
gratifying rapidity. This work will go on all winter. 
Director Walcott will shortly prepare a succint report of the ojjer- 
ations of the field season, for the information of the Secretary of the 
Interior, l)riefly reviewing the work in all its Vjranches. 
Geological Survj:y of New York. 
There have recently appeared in the daily papers of ^"ew 
York city, in the Engineerhui and 31 ining Journal and in Sci- 
ence, articles purporting to give an account of the current 
work of the geological survey of the state of New York. 
These have probably had their origin in the unintelligent work 
of the space reporter, and they seem to have been largely de- 
rived from one another. All are inaccurate, a fault more par- 
donable in a daily newspaper than in the two scientific journals 
mentioned. The doings described are those of the recently 
organized land survey which is equipped solely for topograph- 
ical work. 
The geological survey, by the more than usual consideration 
of the last legislature, has had a very busy and profitable sea- 
son in the field, a number of special assistants having been ac- 
tive in various parts of the state. Professors J. F. Kemp and 
H. P. ("ushing have been continuing their stud}'^ of the crys- 
tallines in Essex, Clinton and Hamilton counties. Prof. C. H. 
Smyth, Jr., is engaged with the structural and economic geol- 
ogy of the western crystallines in St. Lawrence, Jetferson and 
Lewis counties. Professors C. S. Prosser and J. M. Clarke 
have been studying the problems presented by variation and 
distribution of the Portage, Ithaca and Oneonta formations, 
the former in Otsego, Delaware, Schoharie and All)any coun- 
ties, and the latter in Chenango, Cortland and Schuyler coun- 
ties. Mr. D. D. Luther has also given some time to the trac- 
ing of the more westerly extension of the Portage-Chemung 
contact line. Dr. Heinrich Ki(*s has made a stratigra[)hic and 
economic survey of Orange county. Dr. D. F. Lincoln one of 
Seneca county and Mr. I. P. Bishop one of Erie county. 
The work has been accomplished with tlic help of a legisla- 
tive appropriation for the })rosecution of the geological map 
of the state, of wliich a proof edition of a preliminary issue is 
to be at once i)ublished by the U. S. Ceological Survey, by 
virtue of an arrangement made ten years ago between the 
state geologist and major Powell and continued in force by 
the present director. The preliminary edition will be small, 
but sufficient to supply the colleges, high schools and acade- 
mies of the state. With the aid of the legislature work will 
be continued upon the still unsolved problems presented by 
certain regions of the state for incorporation upon a future 
edition of a more com])lete maj). 
