DEDICATION 



To His Excellency 



ROSWELL P. FLOWER, 



Governor of the State of Neiv York: 

 Sir: 



I have the honor to present to your Excellency a new volume of the Natural 

 History of the State of New York, forming a continuation of the work on 

 the PalaBontology of the State. 



This volume together with one other, already far advanced in its prepara- 

 tion, will complete the work upon the revision of the genera of tlie 

 Palaeozoic Brachiopoda. The investigation, begun many years ago, and for a 

 long time suspended, was resumed only in 1888, and while in the outset laboring 

 under many disadvantages for want of adequate collections, the difficulties have 

 been mainly overcome and the author is able to present the volume in a satis- 

 factory form. The advance in our knowledge of this class of fossils during 

 the past twenty-five years, and the later accumulation of material from various 

 sources, for the illustration of the work, are the causes which have expanded 

 the proposed Part ii of Volume IV of 1867 into two volumes, of which this is 

 the first. The work has for its final object the bringing together, under one 

 title, a summary and revision of all the genera of this class of fossils known 

 in the rocks of New York and the adjacent States, to the Coal Measures 

 inclusive. This will also serve as a revision of the genera and species already 

 described in Volumes I to IV of the Palaeontology of New York, published 

 during the interval from 1847 to 1867. 



The publication of the volume has been greatly delayed by causes beyond 

 the control of the author, but the Act of the Legislature, Chapter 170 of the 



