REPORT. 



7b His Excellency. 



RYLAND FLETCHER, 



Governor of the State of Vermont : 

 SIR : On the twenty-ninth day of February, 1856, I had the 

 honor of receiving from His Excellency GOVERNOR ROYCE the 

 appointment of State Naturalist, to supply, until the next session 

 of the General Assembly, the office which was rendered vacant by 

 the death* of Professor Zadock Thompson. 



Conscious that my present position is more attributable to the 

 generous hopes of your predecessor than to any merits of my own y 

 I hesitated awhile, by reason of failing health, to assume upon my- 

 self its weighty cares. Having, however, for many years devoted 

 a portion of my time, and all of my leisure hours, to the study of 

 Natural History, and especially of my native State, and become 

 somewhat familiar with the physical resources of Vermont, and 

 feeling anxious that the work, in which Professor THOMPSON was 

 engaged at the time of his death, should be prosecuted to its com- 

 pletion without interruption, I ventured, not however without 

 some misgivings, to take upon myself the burden of its duties. 



As soon, therefore, as circumstances and a proper regard for 

 the feelings of the family of my deceased friend would justify my 

 so doing, I commenced my official service, and in due time, made a 

 careful examination of the progress which had been made by my 

 predecessors towards a " thorough prosecution and completion of 

 the Geological Survey." 



The first object of my enquiry was to ascertain the requirements 

 of the Statutes authorizing a. Geological Survey of the State \ and 



* Kve Appendix No. t. 



