No. 338.] 
5 
were given in the original plan of the survey to collect'^and preserve 
seven sets of each species of vegetable production, and to arrange and 
name the whole. It is intended in the final leport from this department 
to give, in as popular language as the subject will admit, a full descrip- 
tion of all the plants in the State, with ah account of their economical 
and medicinal uses. 
Your committee are informed and believe that at least another year 
will be required to complete the field labor of this department. Full 
time should be allowed, and the exploration continued as long as new 
discoveries can be made. 
They believe that if proper attention be given to economical as well 
as scientific botany, and the labor of this department be directed to pre- 
pare a useful as well as scientific flora, that the expenditure of money 
required will be a very trifling consideration compared with the im- 
mense benefits that will ensue. 
The zoological department seems to have contemplated in the origi- 
nal plan of the survey an accurate description and figure of all the spe- 
cies of animals found within the limits of the State. This will prove a 
most laborious task; and it is hardly possible that it can be performed with- 
in any reasonable time. It is believed that the fauna of the State of New- 
York will include the greatest portion of the zoology of this country. 
The final report will include, as far as possible, short notices of all the 
animals described as inhabiting the United States, with reference to 
the sources from whence those notices are derived, with figures and de- 
scriptions of all animals, birds, fishes, insects and reptiles within this 
State, an account of their habits and geographic range, with their value 
and utility or hurtfulness to man. 
The gentleman who has charge of this department informs your 
committee, that it will require two years more of unremitting labor, to 
complete his final report in any manner satisfactory to himself or use- 
ful to the public. 
The department of palaeontology will require nearly or quite two 
years to bring it to a useful and honorable conclusion. Organic re- 
mains constitute the basis of modern geology. A want of close obser- 
vation and persevering study in this department, would throw discredit 
over the whole survey, and greatly impair its usefulness. The plan of 
the survey contemplates the figuring and description of the organic re- 
