Xll PREFACE. 



I have to regret that the inadequacy of the appropriation made 

 for printing the present Report, has compelled me to curtail its 

 contents in several important particulars, and among others has 

 necessitated the omission of the tables of elevations, as ascertained 

 by the railroad surveys ; which are, therefore, reserved for a future 

 Report ; and has likewise rendered necessary a partial reduction 

 of the size of the type. Notwithstanding these curtailments (as 

 far as compatible with the objects of the Report), the cost of pub- 

 lication has, under the circumstances, seriously exceeded the 

 amount provided. 



Of the accurate observations contained in Prof. Wailed First 

 Report (which has become somewhat scarce), I have availed myself, 

 so far as they come within the purpose of the present Report ; 

 giving due credit therefor. 



To Dr. William Spillman, of Columbus, Mississippi, I am 

 indebted for the catalogue of fossils given in the Appendix, as 

 well as for other favors. 



To Leo Lesquereux, Esq., of Columbus, Ohio, I am indebted for 

 determinations of fossil plants from the Lignitic strata of North 

 Mississippi. 



My most especial acknowledgments are due to Prof. W. D. 

 Moore, of the University of Mississippi, for voluntary assistance 

 not merely occasional, but of the most comprehensive kind and in 

 part, of the most toilsome character ; he having for months together 

 devoted all his leisure time, even at nights when necessary, and 

 oftentimes at great inconvenience to himself, to the furtherance 

 especially of those portions of the work which otherwise, in the 

 multifarious duties devolving upon me, could hardly have been 

 touched as yet. I owe to his patient labor the systematic arrange- 

 ment and labeling of the Survey collections at Oxford. Without 

 his assistance in the determination and comparison of fossils, the 

 geological features of the State would even now, in a great 

 measure, have been but imperfectly determined, unless many other 

 practically important investigations had been omitted instead ; and 

 the compilation of the catalogues of fossils is almost entirely the 

 fruit of his labor. Of fieldwork I owe to him the re-examination 

 and more accurate tracing out of the deposits of hydraulic lime- 

 stone in Tishomingo, the result of which is given in the Appendix. 

 And finally, he has rendered me most essential aid in the arrange- 



