

11 



of the plants of the State are at present scattered through hundreds of 

 volumes, most of which are quite inaccessible to any except the very few 

 who are furnished with costly and extensive botanical libraries. 



In preparing this volume, a task in which considerable progress has 

 been made by Professor Brewer, he will have the aid of several of the 

 most eminent botanists of the country. Professor Gray, of Cambridge, 

 has kindly offered to work up the large and difficult family of the Com- 

 positse; he has also determined most of the species in the collection, and 

 has given every facility fur consulting the collections and library of the 

 " Gray Herbarium/' of Harvard University. Professor Torrey, of New 

 York, will describe certain orders of the Apetalse, of which he has made 

 a special study. Dr. Englemann, of St. Louis, will prepare the descrip 

 tion of the Cactacese, and render assistance in several other orders to 

 which he has particularly devoted himself. Professor Thurber, of New 

 York, will describe the grasses, and Professor Eaton, of New Haven, the 

 ferns and higher cryptogarnic plants. The carices collected during the 

 first two years of the survey were examined and determined by Dr. 

 Booth, of London, just before his death. The herbaria of Professor Tor 

 rey, so rich in Pacific coast specimens, and those of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 have also been freely opened to Professor Brewer for comparison and 

 consultation. The plants in the State collection will all be carefully 

 named, and it is hoped that the Legislature will not much longer delay 

 having them placed where they will be accessible for comparison to all 

 students of this science on the Pacific coast. 



It is believed that the botanical volume maybe got ready for the press 

 before the close of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-seven. 



vi. ZOOLOGY. 



The extensive acquaintance of Doctor Cooper with the fauna of the 

 Pacific coast, obtained previous to his connection with the Geological 

 Survey, has enabled him to prepare a large amount of material for the 

 press, forming the basis of at least four volumes of our report. The fol 

 lowing table shows what had been accomplished in the way of zoological 

 collecting up to April first, eighteen hundred and sixty -four, in six of the 

 classes : 



