UNIVERSITY 



Letter of Transmittal. 



To Ills Excellency, J. C. W. BECKHAM, 



Governor of Kentucky. 



Sir: I have the honor to herewith submit for publication a 

 report on the Upper Ordovician Rocks of Kentucky and their 

 Bryozoa, by Professor John M. Nickles. This is a contribution 

 toward the proper classification of our geological formations, 

 which, as has been stated in another report, is necessa^ry for an 

 intelligent and adequate understanding of their economic val- 

 ues. In order, for example, that we may be able to estimate 

 the depth below the surface at which a known oil or gas-bearing 

 stratum may be found, we must be able to identify the beds 

 seen at the surface and know their relations to other beds in 

 the series of which the oil-bearing stratum forms a member. 

 The identification of particular beds or a groupof bedsinaseries 

 of stratified rocks largely depends upon a knowledge of their 

 characteristic fossils. There is less general knowledge of bry- 

 ozoa than of other fossil forms, and jet they are often the only 

 trustworthy means for discriminating some of the minor divi- 

 sions of a formation series. The Survey has been fortunate in 

 having the services of Professor Nickles in dealing with that 

 difficult feature of our classification studies, as they relate to 

 the Upper Ordovician or Cincinnatian rocks. The general study 

 of the Cincinnatian series is in the hands of Professor Aug. F. 

 Foerste. His report, which will include many plates, is in 

 course of preparation. 



It seems well to here notice two suggestions made by Professor 

 Nickles. Calling attention to the fact that the Edem beds are 

 the ones that constitute the least fertile of the Ordovician lands, 

 he suggests that a systematic replanting of timber in the Eden 

 areas w r ould be of exceeding value to the State. The suggestion 



