156 BULLETIN 10&, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



president of the Boston Society of Natural History, upon the trees 

 and other ligneous plants; Ebenezer Emmons, professor of natural 

 history in Williams College, upon the mammalia; A. A. Gould, one 

 of the curators in the Boston Society of Natural History, upon the 

 miscellaneous Crustacea and radiata: T. W. Harris, librarian of 

 Harvard University, upon the insects injurious to vegetation; Rev. 

 William B. O. Peabody, of Springfield, upon the birds; and D. H. 

 Storer upon the fishes. 



It was agreed that " instead of confining tliemselves to completing 

 the catalogues in the several departments as issued by the first sur- 

 vey, each commissioner should endeavoi-, as far as possible, to study 

 and describe every new object which should present itself in his 

 own department, and, where the descriptions already given were in- 

 complete or unsatisfactory, or contained in books not of easy access 

 to the public, to redescribe or make additions or changes such as 

 should seem best." 



It became at once evident that satisfactory final reports could not 

 be issued within the limits of a single year. Partial reports were 

 therefore made by each of the commissioners, vv'hich, with a letter 

 from the chairman, were ordered printed and leave was asked and 

 obtained to defer their report for another year. The final reports 

 as issued under date of 1840 were monographic in character, and 

 several of them have since been reprinted as separate documents: 

 Gould's report on Invertebrate Animals, formed a work of 373 

 pages and 14 plates; Harris's Insects Injurious to Vegetation, the 

 first issue of which was made under date of 1840 and reprinted under 

 date of 1862, formed a volume of 640 pages; Dewey's report on 

 Herbaceous Plants formed a work of 277 pages; Emmons on Quad- 

 rupeds, 86 pages; Storer on Fishes and Reptiles, 235 pages; Pea- 

 body on Birds, 147 pages. 



It may be well to note here that Professor Plitchcock's reports on 

 the fossil footprints of the Connecticut Valle}', entitled Ichnology 

 of New England, were printed by the State, in accordance with 

 resolutions approved March 29, 1857, and March 26, 1858. The work 

 of preparation appears, however, to have been done wholly under 

 private auspices. 



In December, 1839, the final report of the geological division of 

 the survey was presented and printed under date of 1841 in the 

 form of two quarto volumes of 831 pages, all told, including 51 

 full-page plates and maps. Fifteen hundred copies were issued and 

 distributed in accordance with the act of April 9, 1839. 



By resolution of February 15, 1841, the original resolution pro- 

 viding for an agricultural survey of the Commonwealth was repealed 

 as previously mentioned. 



