12 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
the Gloversville quadrangle was covered by Dr W. J. Miller and the 
report awaits publication. 
Interpretation of the Chemung formation. The Chemung for- 
mation is a member of the series of New York geological formations 
as defined in the original geological survey of the State and it has 
entered generally into the nomenclature of geology in America. It 
is a heavy mass of sediments terminating the succession of Devonian 
marine deposits, and while its lithological variations are notable there 
has never been a successful attempt of the many that have been 
made, to find a basis for its subdivision into the component elements 
of its records, sedimentary and biological. The problem has been 
attacked anew and it will gratify students of geology interested in 
the integrity and detailed history of the New York formations to 
understand the construction of this term as elucidated by Prof. 
George H. Chadwick in a paper printed elsewhere in this report. 
Drainage problems of the southern tier. The causes and 
development of the present natural drainage of the southern 
counties, the origin of its rivers and their relation to the outflow of 
Postglacial waters, and in a general way the emergence of the pres- 
ent topography of the extensive Allegany plateau of southern New 
York, have been subjects of study and field survey for two years. 
The practical bearing of this investigation lies in affording an intelli- 
gent appreciation of natural control of present waterways which 
must govern their future development for industrial purposes. 
Essential Importance of Understanding the Geological 
History of Rivers and Streams as a Basis for the Successful 
Development of Water Ways. 
It is extremely difficult to convince public and private interests 
enlisted in water power and river-canal development projects, that 
the history and mode of evolution of a river, especially a very ancient 
waterway like the Hudson or the St Lawrence, has an “ heredity ” 
which is an effective factor in its behavior, in precisely the same 
sense that heredity controls human behavior. Too often to an 
engineer the development of a project for storage, power production 
or canalization is purely the handling of factors in sight and readily 
estimable. Such prodigious propositions as the canalization of the 
Hudson in its upper reaches and directly through its natural bars at 
the “ Overslaughs,” or of the upper St Lawrence through its younger 
rock-paved, incompleted channel, and its lower tidal reaches, seem 
thus far to have ignored the governance of these rivers, their flow, 
erosion, transportation, the control of their contributaries and an 
