S. Mis. 53. 63 



addition to the more immediate object of obtaining reliable information 

 in respect to a future extension of colonization on the coast. 



7. Coast Survey. 



This highl}^ import;int work, under the able superintendence of Prof. 

 A. D. Bache, has progressed rapidly during the past year. The 

 division into sections, adopted some years ngo, seconded by liberal 

 appropriations from Congress, has enabled the Superintendent to bring 

 out results of the greatest value. The sections at present established 

 are as follows : 



Scctioji I. From Passaranquoddy bay to Point Judith, including 

 coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, INIassachusetts, and Rhode Island. 



Section II. From Point Judith to Cape Henlopen, including coasts 

 of Connecticut, New York, New Jerse}^ Pennsylvania, and Delaware. 



Section III. From Cape Henlopen to Cape Henry, including coasts 

 of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. 



Section IV. From (Jape Henry to Cape Fear, including coasts of 

 Virginia and North Carolina. 



Section V. From Cape Fear to the St. Mary's river, including coasts 

 of South Carolina and Georgia. 



Section VI. From St. jMary's river to St. Joseph's ba}^, under Anclote 

 keys, including the Florida reefs and keys. 



Section VII. From St. Joseph's bay to Mobile Point, including the 

 remainder of the coast of Florida. 



Section VIII. From Mobile Point to Vermillion bay, including coasts 

 of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. 



Sectio7i IX. From Vermillion bay to IMexico, including part of coast 

 of Louisiana and Texas. 



Sections X and XL Coast of California and Oregon. 



Our limits will not allow us to go into the particulars of operations 

 on this great national work further than to state that, in every Section, 

 trianguhitions, surveys, and soundings, in great number, have been 

 made. The charts and sketches published or in progress amount to 

 lipwards of eighty, and in point of mechanical execution and accuracy 

 are unsurpassed. In addition to the strictly hydrographical and geo- 

 detical operations, observati(^ns have been made in magnetism, meteor- 

 ology, astronomy, tidal phenomena, &c., of the highest importance. 

 Great interest, too, is felt by many offict^rs of the survey, in diflerent 

 branches of natural history, which will yield practical results of great 

 moment. 



8. Domestic States, Societies, axd Individuals. 



State Siirveys. — The geological surveys of the diflerent States, as 

 referred to in my last report, are progressing with considerable rapidity. 

 New York has published three additional volumes of her series of mag- 

 nificent quartos — one of palaeontology, by Prof. James Hall ; the others 

 on agriculture and on fruits, by Prof. E. Emmons. The field-work of 

 the Pennsylvania survey, under Prof. H. D. Rogers, is nearl}'^ com- 

 pleted, and the final report in active state of forwardness. Nortli Car- 

 olina, Illinois, Mississippi, and the other States, are actively engaged 

 in the development of their geological and palacontological history, under 



