GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 7 



species of plants have been described by the eminent botanist, Profes- 

 sor Tliomas C. Porter, of Easton, Pennsylvania. Of flowering plants 

 there were one new genus and six new species, besides several varieties. 

 They number about nine hundred species. Of grasses there were about 

 sixty species; mosses, fifty-three; lichens, with probably one new species 

 and two new to this continent, sixty-seven; other cryptogamia, with 

 two new species of fungi, seventy. There will probably be one thousand 

 two hundred species in all. The report of Dr. Cnrtis, on the micro- 

 scopic forms of that region, and especially about the hot springs, must 

 I)rove of interest to microscopists. 



It is believed that the results of the survey as a whole will be found 

 to be worthj' of the liberal appropriation made by Congress for the 

 purpose. 



The results of the labors of the topographical cordis will be visible in 

 the series of maps, which will be published as soon as possible. Some 

 of the smaller ones, prepared by Mr. Bechler, accompany this report. 

 Mr. Bechler labored with the utmost zeal and fidelity, and his maps of 

 the Snake River Valley and its tribirtaries cannot but prove a most im- 

 portant addition to the geography of one of .the least known portions 

 of our continent. The observations for latitude and longitude were 

 taken by Mr. Eudolph Hering, who also superintended the meteorolog- 

 ical observations. He was assisted in the field by Mr. Jaycox. Mr. 

 William Nicholson remained at Port Hall and made a most valuable 

 series of meteorological observations. Mr. Adolph Burck, assisted by 

 Messrs. Ga;inett and Brown, secured the materials for a map of the 

 Yellowstone, Madison, and Gallatin Elvers, with their branches, com- 

 l^risiug an- area of about nine thousand square miles. The sndden 

 death of Mr. Burck before the completion of his map, threw additional 

 labor upon Mr. Gannett. Mr. Gannett has performed his duties both in 

 the field and in the ofiice with the highest credit to himself and to the 

 survey. 



Besides the two main parties, several smaller parties have been oper- 

 ating under the auspices of the survey in different portions of the West. 

 It is a part of the policy of the survey to invite distinguished special- 

 ists to examine some of the more obscure and difficult problems in the 

 geology of the West. There has been for a long time some differences of 

 opinion in regard to the exact age of some portions of the Cretaceous 

 and Tertiary groups of the West. I desired to gather all the evidence 

 that could be secured for the solution of the question the present sea-, 

 son. Professor Joseph Leidy and Professor E. D. Coi)e spent a large 

 part of the summer in studying the ancient lake-basins in the interior 

 of the continent, .which have now become celebrated all over the world 

 for the richness and variety of their vertebrate fossils. These eminent 

 gentlemen were most successful and obtained a vast quantity of valu- 

 able material, which will be embodied in a series of memoirs illustrated 

 with i)lates, w hich will form volume I of the quarto series of final reports. 



