€4 GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY 



V. 

 BOTANY. 



The survey has received a hearty response to the following cir- 

 cular, which was issued in conformity with the instructions of the 

 Regents, in the spring of 1876 : 



THE GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY OF 

 MINNESOTA. 



(BOTANY.) 



lo the Botanists of the State : 



At the annual meeting of the Board of Regents, held in St. Paul in De- 

 cember, 1875, action was taken ordering the commencement of a thorough 

 and systematic examination of the flora of the state. This was done in 

 conformity to the law ordering a geological and natural history survey of the 

 state, and placing it in charge of the Regents of the University. One clause 

 of that law reads as follows : 



" Sec 3. The natural history survey shall include, first, an examination 

 of the vegetable productions of the state, embracing all trees, shrubs, herbs 

 and grasses native or naturalized in the state ; second, a complete and sci- 

 entific account of the animal kingdom as properly represented in the state, 

 including all mammalia, fishes, reptiles, birds and insects." 



In the prosecution of this examination it is expected that the Regents will 

 have the assistance of the botauists of the state, and it is for their informa- 

 tion that the following suggestions are made concerning the collection and 

 preservation of information, and especially of botanical specimens. 



1st. Make as full notes as possible on the flora of your own locality, not 

 only naming species, but mentioning peculiarities and variations of struc- 

 ture, habitat, color, and relative abundance. Recollect that there is no 

 published text book that professes to give an account of the flora of the 

 country west of the Mississippi in this latitude, and that you are very largely 



