REPORT 
Of J. E. De Kay, of the Zoological Department. 
The undersigned, in compliance with the requisition of the Governor, 
respectfully submits the following 
REPORT : 
Under the provisions of the act authorizing a scientific survey of the 
State of New-York, he is required to furnish accurate descriptions and 
figures of all the species of animals found within the limits of the State. 
In the present state of zoological knowledge, this manifestly involves 
an impossibility ; for to give a complete list, would require the united 
labors of many naturalists for a long series of years. All that was in- 
tended, we presume, was to furnish a complete account of all the known 
species, with as many new ones as might be discovered within the 
limited period assigned to the survey. 
From the geographical position of our State, bounded partly on the 
north by the great inland seas, and touching at the other extremity the 
ocean ; along its southern border connected with the great basin of the 
Mississippi, and on the north and east with the mountainous districts of 
the eastern States, it will readily be perceived that its animal species 
must be exceedingly numerous. If to this we add the consideration 
that the State of New-York within itself possesses those conditions of 
existence, arising from variety of soil, temperature and elevation, favor- 
able to the development of organic forms, we shall find the Fauna of 
New-York embracing the great bulk of the Zoology of the United 
States. Accordingly we see animals first described as natives of the 
sterile plains of Missouri, or the frozen regions of the arctic circle, to 
be inhabitants of this State : It is not to be understood that they have 
not always existed here, but that their existence has but recently been 
observed. The geographic range of species in the United States is 
