PREFACE. 
TriE greater number of the Plates which accompany this Report were 
originally prepared for the final Report of Professor Louis Agassiz on the 
Coral Reefs of Florida, which for various reasons was never published. In 
order to make known the beautiful drawings of corals lithographed by the 
late Mr. Sonrel, it was my intention to publish these plates, as " Illustrations 
of Florida Corals," ^ with an explanation kindly supplied by Mr. Pourtales. 
He has also selected a few additional species, which have been lithographed 
and added to the original plates in order to make these illustrations as far 
as possible characteristic of the prominent Florida species, both the reef- 
builders and those found within the reef area.^ 
On consultation with the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, the Hon. 
Carlile P. Patterson, it was deemed advisable to publish at the same time, as 
far as it could be found, the Report of Professor Agassiz on the Florida Reefs, 
extracts of which were published in the Annual Report of the Superintendent 
of the Coast Survey for 1851, — a publication but little known to naturalists 
before the days of deep-sea dredging. To this Report I have appended, with 
the permission of the publishers, Messrs. Houghton, Osgood, & Co., the 
sketch of Florida found in Professor Agassiz's "Methods of Study," and 
based entirely upon his investigations of the Florida Reefs under the auspices 
of the Coast Survey. I have added a sketch map of southern Florida, with 
the Keys, compiled from Coast Survey maps, to facilitate the reading of 
this Report.^ 
' During his frequent visits to all parts of our sea-coast, a number of drawings of polyps and of other 
marine animals which can only be drawn directly from life, were made under the direction of Professor 
Agassiz ; these I hope from time to time to publish in the Museum Memoirs, with the necessary explana- 
tions, and the Florida corals form the first part of these illustrations. 
' For the deep-sea corals see Pourtales, No. IV. Illust. Cat.M. C. Z. Mem. Mus. Comp. Zobl., Vol. II. 
* For further details see the large Coast Survey charts Nos. 166, 167, 168, 169, issued since the date 
of Professor Agassiz's report. 
ALEXANDER AGASSIZ. 
Cambridge, M.\ss., March, 1880. 
