I4 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
in standing water. This loose clay contains many snail shells 
obviously of existing species. ‘The trees were all prone but not 
flattened. For the most part the trunks were lying in somewhat 
parallel directions. These trunks varied much in size, one having 
a length of 30 feet and several had a diameter of 12 to 18 inches. 
As none of the trunks were found upright and no stumps were 
exposed it is believed that the material was washed or flooded into 
a body of standing water. The wood had undergone comparatively 
little decomposition, though heavily waterlogged and leaves were 
preserved in great quantities. From them principally it has been 
possible to determine broadly that the species are of maple, birch, 
beech, alder, elm, and though there is no evidence of there being 
among them any strangers to the present tree flora, a closer study of 
leaves and wood will be required to determine this point. 
There can be no doubt that this is evidence of a forest of great age. 
The deposits in which it occurs belong, in the judgment of Mr 
Hartnagel, to glacial Lake Iroquois.. Prof. H. L. Fairchild is of the 
opinion that the trees were laid down in standing water during an 
early stage of that lake. The occurrence at Lyons is not without 
precedent in western New York. During the excavation of the 
Barge canal a number of layers of leaves were uncovered at Lock 
26, near Clyde, and below, at 22 feet, the tooth of a mammoth was 
found. Occasional logs buried deep in the soil are of frequent 
occurrence but we have no record of such an extensive accumulation 
of buried forest wood in deposits whose geological age can be 
approximately determined. 
Survey of the oil fields. Last year the State Legislature 
granted a small appropriation for the survey of the oil fields of the 
State. As the amount given was but one-fifth of the sum deemed 
necessary for the work, only a portion of the field has been covered. 
The results, however, have been so important that the survey should 
be carried out as originally planned. The geological work that this 
department has carried on in the region of southwestern New York 
has been of much interest not only to the petroleum geologist but to 
the oil-producing companies. The region under consideration is the 
only one in the United States where “flooding” or the “ water 
drive ”’ is being successfully employed in the winning of petroleum. 
A United States Geological Survey report of 1922 makes the follow- 
ing statement: “In only one region are the geologic conditions so 
well known and the experience with improved methods on a com- 
mercial basis so extensive and so long continued as to justify the 
formulation of estimates based on the results obtained. This is the 
