LETTEK TO THE SECRETARY. 15 



secure for the Survey that priority of discovery which is its right. The 

 first two numbers, issued during the year 1874, are not paged consecu- 

 tively; but those of the second series, which have been issued during 

 the year 1875, will be paged consecutively, and the illustrations num- 

 bered, so that at the close of the year all the numbers may be gathered 

 together and bound in one volume. A title-page, table of contents, and 

 a complete index will be printed in the final number of each year. The 

 numbers for the year 1874 and 1875 may be bound together as volume I. 

 The irregularities in some of the publications are due to the unexpected 

 progress of the Survey and the acquisition of an unusual amount of 

 material. 



The history of the Survey, from the small appropriation of |5,000 in 

 1867, was briefly told in the Annual Eeport of last year. It has contin- 

 ued from year to year with a constant growth, though dependent upon 

 the annual appropriation, which will cease or be renewed each year at 

 the option of Congress. 



During the years 1867 and 1868, the Survey was under the Commis- 

 sioner of the General Land-Office, and the two small annual reports 

 were incorporated in the annual volume of that Bureau. 



In 1869, the Survey was placed under the Secretary of the Interior, 

 and the first indeiDendent annual report was made. When the demand 

 was so great that a reprint of the report of 1869 was ordered, I united 

 the two small reports of 1867 and 1868 with the report of 1869, as First, 

 Second, and Third Annual Eeports of the Survey. 



The original plan of the quarto series only extended to five volumes. 

 Volume V was to include all the natural history, and on the title-page 

 of volumes I and V it is stated that Aie entire series will be in five 

 volumes, of which the Acrididse was to be the first iDart ; but the mate- 

 rials in all branches accumulated so rapidly that the number of vol- 

 umes was increased, and at the present time it will be limited only by 

 the duration of the Survey. 



The annual reports will be continued from year to year. Circum- 

 stances beyond the control of the geologist-in-charge may delay them, 

 as in the case of the present one, but they will appear as soon as they 

 can be prepared. 



Besides the regular members of the Survey, there are several collabo- 

 rators, whose time is more or less occupied in the preparation of special 

 reports. Prof. Leo Lesquereux has been continuously connected with 

 the Survey for several years, with a regular salary, devoted to the elabo- 

 ration of reports on vegetable paleontology. Mr. F. B. Meek has also 

 been a member of the Survey most of the time since 1867, with a fixed 

 salary, as paleontologist. Professor Cope has prepared the reports on 

 Vertebrata, and will continue to devote his time at intervals to that special 

 department. Dr. A. S. Packard spent several months during the past 

 summer in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah under the auspices of the 

 Survey, making large collections in his favorite branches, entomology 



