INTRODl ( TION 



The Held work of the four o-reat surveys whoso publications are 

 cataloo'uod and indexed herein was done between l.StJT and LST'J, when 

 the United States Geological Survey was organized. The office work, 

 such as the preparation of maps and reports, continued until several 

 years later. 



As far as known to the writer, no complete list of the publications 

 of these survey's has l)een issued. The last edition of the catalogue of 

 the Hayden survey was published in 1S79, and the last edition of the 

 catalogue of the Wheeler survey was issued in 1881. These cata- 

 logues are necessarily incomplete, as all the publications of these 

 surveys had not been issued at the time the catalogues were printed. 



The index is general in character, giving a bird's-eye view of the pul)- 

 lications, and is not a compilation of details such as would be found in 

 the indexes to the individual reports. For instance, it has been found 

 impracticable to index generic and specitic names in botany and zool- 

 ogy. The few specitic or generic names appearing in the index are 

 portions of the titles of papers. However, in order to give a general 

 view of publications on zoology and botany, all entries referring to 

 these subjects are suliordinated under the headings: "Vertebrates;" 

 " Vertebrates, fossil ; " ' ' Invertebrates; " " Invertebrates, fossil ; " 

 "Plants;" and "Plants, fossil."" Likewise, all entries relating to eth- 

 nologic and archa'ologic subjects are included in the group "Ethnology 

 and Archaeology.'' All geographic entries are classified under names 

 of States and Territories. 



The United States Geological Survey has no copies of these publi- 

 cations for distribution. 



For many suggestions at various stages of the work the writer is 

 indebted to Mr. P. C. Warman. 



L. F. S. 



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