X PREFACE. 



The order of the several departments, as set forth in the first published 

 volume of the Natural History, was as follows : 



Central Jntroliuction : 



[By William H. Seward.] 

 PART I. 



By James E. De Kay. 



PART 11. 



Botanij: 



By John Torrey. 



PART III. 



Blincialcigii : 



By Lewis C. Beck. 



PARTS IV and v.* 



(^cologn mib Ipalccontologn: 



By William W. Mather, Ebenezer Emmons, Lardner Vanuxem 

 and James Hall. 



Agriculture was not prominent in the original plan of the survey, and repre- 

 sentations coming from the State Agricultural Society, in 1842, led Governor 

 Seward to recognize its importance in this relation. He decided that Agricul- 

 ture and PalsBontology should be considered as departments to be continued 

 and completed as a part of the Natural History of the State of New York. 



The Department of Agriculture was placed in charge of Dr. Ebenezer 

 Emmons, who retained his position as State Geologist, and was also the custo- 



* After 1842 the Department of Geology was designated as Pai-t IV, Apiculture as Part V, and 

 Palaeontotog-y as Part VI. 



