PREFACE. 



The greater number of the Plates which accompany this Report were 

 originally prepared for the final Report of Professor Louis Agassiz on the 

 Coral Reefs of Florida, which for various reasons was never published. In 

 order to make known the beautiful drawings of corals lithographed by the 

 late Mr. Sonrel, it was my intention to publish these plates, as " Illustrations 

 of Florida Corals," ^ with an explanation kindly supplied by Mr. Pourtales. 

 He has also selected a few additional species, which have been lithographed 

 and added to the original plates in order to make these illustrations as far 

 as possible characteristic of the prominent Florida species, both the reef- 

 builders and those found within the reef area.^ 



On consultation with the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, the Hon. 

 Carlile P. Patterson, it was deemed advisable to publish at the same time, as 

 far as it could be found, the Report of Professor Agassiz on the Florida Reefs, 

 extracts of which were published in the Annual Report of the Superintendent 

 of the Coast Survey for 1851, — a publication but little known to naturalists 

 before the days of deep-sea dredging. To this Report I have appended, with 

 the permission of the publishers, Messrs. Houghton, Osgood, & Co., the 

 sketch of Florida found in Professor Agassiz's " Methods of Study," and 

 based entirely upon his investigations of the Florida Reefs under the auspices 

 of the Coast Survey. I have added a sketch map of southern Florida, with 

 the Keys, compiled from Coast Survey maps, to facilitate the reading of 

 this Report.^ 



' During his frequent visits to all parts of onr sea-coast, a number of drawings of polyps and of other 

 marine animals which can only be dra-\vn directly from life, were made under the diiection of Professor 

 Agassiz ; these I hope from time to time to publish in the Museimi Memoirs, with the necessary explana- 

 tions, and the Florida corals form the first part of these illustrations. 



^ For the deep-sea corals see Pourtales, No. IV. Illust. Cat. M. C. Z. Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., Vol. II. 



' For further details see the large Coast Survey charts Nos. 166, 167, 168, 169, issued since the date 

 of Professor Agassiz's report. 



ALEXANDER AGASSIZ. 

 Cambridge, Mass., March, 1880. 



