North Atlantic Pleistocene Problem — Shattiick. 107 
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF MARYLAND AND NEW JERSEY PLEISTO- 
CENE FORMATIONS. 
Maryland Sections. New Jersey Sections. 
Talbot (lower portions of Later Parts of Cape May and Pensau- 
Columbia). ken. 
Wicomico (higher portions of Parts of Cape May, Pensauken 
Later Columbia). and possibly Bridgeton. 
Sunderland (Earlier Columbia). Parts of Cape May, Pensauken 
and Bridp^eton. 
It is believed by the author that the methods of classification 
employed in Maryland are the natural ones, and that they will 
ultimately be found applicable to the determination of the ma- 
rine Pleistocene deposits of much of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. 
EDITORIAL COMMENT. 
THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY IN THE 
NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
Plates X-XIV. 
It is proposed to give here a brief account of the Depart- 
ment of Geology in the U. S. National Museum, as condensed 
mainly from its published handbooks and annual reports. The 
purport of the paper is to show to what extent the department, 
as a national institution, is fulfilling its mission in caring for 
and rendering available to students the materials entrusted to 
its keeping, and further, in making an intelligent display for 
the benefit of the public. 
The history of the U. S. National Museum may be said to 
date from the vear 1846, when by act of Congress the custody 
of the National Cabinet of Curiosities, at that time deposited in 
the Patent Office building, was transferred to the Smithsonian 
Institution. 
This act provided that "All objects of natural history, 
plants and geological and mineralogical specimens belonging 
or hereafter to belong to the United States, and which were 
then in the city of Washington, should be delivered to the Re-. 
gents of the Smithsonian Institution, and together with new 
specimens obtained bv exchange, donation, or otherwise, should 
be so arranged and classified as best to facilitate their examina- 
tion and stud}-." Wy a subsequent act it is decreed that "all 
