I.esqiierpux.] ^\J\J [Jan. 5, 



corps of the first Geological Survey of Pennsylvania as Palcobotnnist, and 

 was then requested, not merely to collect and study the coal plants, 

 and to pivc an account of them, but to find in regard to their stratiixraphi- 

 Cid distribution <»oni(> data which might be of application for the determi- 

 nation of the relative position of the coal beds. I went to work then ; but 

 when I look now upon thos" first researches of mine, I can but feel a deep 

 sense of commiseration r)rthat student of American paleobotany who had 

 never before seen an American specimen of fossil plants, and who was 

 called to prepare a full record of a flora which after twenty-five years 

 of incessant work is as yet, and will ever be, incomplete; and to de- 

 cide upon problems as far from solution now, after the multiplied re- 

 seiirches of a score of naturalists of the highest standing, as they 

 were thirly years ago. And this commiseration does not apply merely 

 to the results of the work, but to the labor itself. I had as yet never 

 had any collection of coal jilants of my own, and thus had no points 

 of comparison whatever. I had merely studied these plants in some 

 of the more important cabinets of Europe, especially that of Strasbourg, 

 which had furnished to Brongniarta large part of the materials used for his 

 Flora. And, except a copy of Sternberg lent to me by the director of the 

 survey, I had no books. The work had to he done, however. Spending daj^s, 

 even whole weeks, upon the great heaps of black shale, now such a marked 

 feature of the landscape of the Anthracite fields ; cutting and turning over 

 those shales, sometimes heated by the sun to such a degree that they could 

 hardly be taken into the hands ; comparing incomplete fragments in trying 

 to recognize the original characters of the plants ; carefully collecting all 

 that seemed of any value to my purpose, and heaping and transporting 

 lots of specimens on my back, however great the distances might be, I had 

 soon materials enough at ray command. For then most of the mines were 

 new openings ; the shales were generally taken out, and lay uncovered, 

 and some of the coal beds were very rich in fossil remains. Moreover, I 

 found already some fine cabinets of fossil plants open to me for exami- 

 nation ; that of Mr. Clarkson of Wilkesbarre ; of Mr. Jones of Carbondale, 

 both very intelligent gentlemen, superintendents of coal mines ; and many 

 fine specimens, isolated as curiosities by hotel keepers or land proprietors, 

 were presented to the survey. All these specimens after being examined 

 and labeled by a No. of order corresponding with those of my book of ref- 

 erences, in which remarks on the specification were written, were boxed 

 and sent to the address of Professor Rogers at Philadelplua ; except, how- 

 ever, those which had to be figured for the plates of the report, or which as 

 yet, of uncertain relation, had to be more carefully studied. 



At the suggestion of the director of the survey I had prepared for pub- 

 lication in the Boston Journal of Natural History (.\ugust, 1S54) an 

 abridged description of the new species of fossil plants found in the coal 

 fields of Pennsylvania. But the final report was mostly made at the house 

 of Prof. Rogers at Bostoii, where all the specimens of the survey were 

 then, and where I spent three months in a final review to close the memoir 



