INTRODUCTION. vij 



ral departments, each commissioner, should endeavor, 

 as far as possible, to study and describe every new ob- 

 ject which should present itself in his own department, 

 and where the descriptions already given were incom- 

 plete, or unsatisfactory, or contained in books not of 

 easy access to the public, to re-describe, or make addi- 

 tions or changes, such as should seem best. 



It was immediately seen that no final reports, that 

 would be satisfactory, in this view of the work, could be 

 made within the limits of a single year. Partial reports 

 were therefore made by the five Commissioners on the 

 Zoological departments, which, with a letter from the 

 Chairman, were ordered to be printed ; and leave was 

 asked and obtained, by all the Commissioners, to defer 

 their reports for another year. 



The Legislature, with that liberality which had given 

 rise to the original Survey, and which is the best and 

 most lasting distinction of enlightened governments, 

 ordered the Survey to be continued, and appropriated 

 to it such a sum as was thought suflicient to carry it 

 into effect. 



It is a gratifying reflection to the sons of Massachusetts, 

 that this liberality has, from the beginning of its his- 

 tory been its distinguishing characteristic. In those 

 early days, when, as a feeble colony, it was struggling 

 for existence, it made what, considering its means, were 

 magnificent appropriations for the education of its chil- 

 dren ; for the developement of its intellectual resour- 

 ces. And, at every period, acting in the same spirit, 

 it has made its schools and colleges, prominent and fa^ 

 vored objects of legislative patronage. 



It is but recently that the physical resources of a 

 country have, any where, been an object towards which 



