TO HIS EXCELLEiNCY EDWIN D. MORGAN, 



Governor of tlic State of New-York. 



SIR, 



I HAVE the honor to submit to your Excellency that part of my Report 

 upon the Paleontology of New- York, containing descriptions of the 

 fossils of the Lower Helderberg group and Oriskany sandstone. All the 

 species described in this volume have been illustrated by figures, drawn 

 and engraved from original specimens, which have been collected under 

 my own direction or derived from authentic sources since the year 1843. 

 This volume of descriptions has been for some time completed and 

 printed, with the exception of a hiatus from page 376 to 400, which, 

 until the present time, I have been unable to fill in a satisfactory 

 manner for the want of a sufficient collection of specimens. 



The long interval which has elapsed since the publication of Volume 



II will be explained, when it is known that the work, by act of the 

 Legislature and the authority of the Commission having charge of the 

 same, was suspended from 1850 to 1855, and was only revived in the 

 latter year. 



I have the honor to be, 



With great respect, 



Your obedient servant, 



JAMES HALL 



Albast, Septcnibcr 1869. 



