LETTER 
TO THE 
SECRETARY OF STATE AND SECRETARY OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS, 
To Hon. ALLEN C. BEACH, 
Secretary of State, and 
S. B. WOOLWORTH, LL. D., 
Secretary of the Board of Regents: 
Gentlemen —By a law of the Legislature of the State of New York, all matters 
relating to the publication of the Natural History of the State are committed 
to your direction. In accordance with this law, and my own desire, I beg leave 
to submit to you Volume V, Part II, of the Palaeontology of New York, which 
has been done and completed under your direction, and with your approval 
during its progress. 
In submitting this part of the work, it seems proper that I should 
accompany it with some statement of the present condition of the remain¬ 
ing portions, and an explanation of the causes which have operated to 
prevent an earlier appearance of the present volume. This explanation is due 
from myself to you who have so kindly and efficiently sustained the work in 
its progress through many untoward and discouraging circumstances. It is 
due to the public of all classes who had a right to expect the publication of a 
volume long before this time. It is due to myself, because having assumed 
a position of responsibility, I should either perform the requirements as 
expected, or offer some reasonable explanation for delay. 
