4i4 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



is, I need hardly say, neither the oldest of the States' Surveys nor the first 

 that brought its resources to bear on other matters than geography and 

 geology. Indeed, from the beginning of the century, the Americans have 

 busied themselves with inquiries into the resources and productions of 

 their States — never on any recognized system, too often under difficulties 

 and discouragements, not seldom to be nipped in the bud, or, worse still, 

 sacrificed when the fruit was fit for gathering, through the ignorance or 

 parsimony of the holders of the national purse ; but, thanks to the single- 

 mindedness of the labourers, never without some good, and often with 

 great results. The Coast Surveys are admirable alike for their system, 

 for their breadth of purpose, for the attainments and ability of the 

 officers in charge of them, and for the minute topographic accuracy 

 aimed at and attained — an accuracy which, I need not say, is unattain- 

 able by such surveys as that here briefly described. The various surveys 

 for railways across the continent have contributed a very library to natural 

 science in many departments ; and some of the individual States have, 

 through the like agency, contributed greatly to our knowledge of their 

 natural history and other products. For an excellent and full account of 

 the history, labours, and results of all these, I must refer you to Prof. 

 Whitney's article on " Geographical and Geological Surveys " in the 

 'North American Review' for July and September 1875, which he was 

 so kind as to send me at the moment of my departure from the States. 

 Prof. Whitney's own Geological Survey of California and Nevada is one 

 of the very best of the series. It was begun in 1864, and continued for 

 ten years ; but after the publication of a topographical map, and some very 

 valuable results, including natural history, at a most moderate cost, the 

 whole work was stopped by the State Legislature, and the geological maps 

 and sections, though admirable and paid for, have consequently never been 

 given to the public ! The last of these Surveys which I shall mention is 

 that of Kentucky by Professor Shaler, the State Surveyor, of which the 

 first volume of the Report has just appeared, containing, besides articles 

 on prehistoric remains, fossil Brachiopods, and caverns and cavern-life, 

 an exhaustive article by Mr. Allen, of singular interest, on the Bisons of 

 America, living and extinct. 



The American Flora. — Though I have as yet little to say of the results 

 of Dr. Gray's and my own investigations under the Survey, I have every 

 reason to hope that, having been extended through the Sink, Salt, or desert 

 regions west of the Rocky Mountains, and thence across the Sierra Nevada 

 to the Pacific coast, they will, with the materials previously obtained by my 

 fellow traveller and myself, enable us to correlate our several researches 

 into the distribution of North-American plants, and to point out the 

 lines along which the migrations of the existing types were directed, and 

 the countries whence they migrated. 



As regards the components of the United-States flora, these seemed to 



