THE NEW YORK GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 823 



The incompleteness of the contemplated Natural History of the 

 State was recognized by the Governor and Legislature, and it was also 

 claimed that agricultural interests had not been sufficiently considered 

 in the work already published. It was, therefore, determined that the 

 department of paleontology should be re-established, and that of 

 agriculture be added to the plan of the work. Under the latter title 

 Dr. Emmons published five volumes ; the first being devoted to the 

 general relations of the topography and geology of the State to its 

 agriculture and agricultural products ; the second, to the chemical 

 analysis of the soils and agricultural products, with extended observa- 

 tions upon the temperature of the air, soil, etc. ; the third and fourth 

 (text and plates), to the description and illustration of the cultivated 

 fruits of the State ; and the fifth, to insects, chiefly those injurious to 

 vegetation.* 



The paleontology was committed to Mr. James Hall, who entered 

 upon the work in 1844. f Volumes one and two had been substantially 

 completed and the third considerably advanced, when, in 1850, fur- 

 ther appropriations were withheld and the work virtually suspended. 

 In 1855, through the influence of the Hon. E. W. Leavenworth, Secre- 

 tary of State, the work was revived and a plan for its completion pro- 

 posed. A provision was also inserted that an appropriation from the 

 State for the collection of fossils should be made annually for eight 

 years. Through this means large collections were made and a great 

 amount of new material added to that j^reviously obtained, and this 

 necessarily and unavoidably expanded the work much beyond what 

 was originally contemplated, and beyond wdiat could have been ex- 

 pected before such collections were made. 



At the present time, five volumes of the Paleontology have been 

 published, two of which were bound in two parts, making the entire 

 number of seven bound volumes. These volumes contain about twen- 

 ty-seven hundred pages of text and five hundred and sixteen plates. 

 At the time of this writing the work has been virtually suspended for 

 the past two years, with one hundred and seventy-five plates already 

 lithographed and printed, and more than sixteen hundred pages of 

 manuscript ready for the printer, besides drawings for more than one 

 hundred and twenty-five plates.J 



* Many of the results obtained by the late Dr. Fitch, of Salem, New York, and by 

 Dr. Harris, of Cambridge, are incorporated in this volume. 



f The work was begun almost without collections of fossils of any kind, without a 

 library for reference, without artists or any of the appliances or resources considered 

 necessary in scientific investigation and illustration. It became necessary to create the 

 department from the beginning. No appropriations of money were made by the State 

 for the collection of fossils until 1856, and this burden of labor and expense bore heavily 

 upon the author of the work. 



% No printing has been done for three years (since 18*79), and no lithographic work 

 for about two years. The delays in the publication of the volumes during the past are 

 not chargeable to the author. The work was virtually suspended from 1850 to 1S56. 



