TO HIS EXCELLENCY EDWIN D. MORGAN, 
Governor of the State of New-York. 
SIR, 
I have the honor to submit to your Excellency that part of my Report 
upon the Palaeontology of New-York, containing descriptions of the 
fossils of the Lower Helderberg group and Oriskany sandstone. All the 
species described in this volume have been illustrated by figures, drawn 
and engraved from original specimens, which have been collected under 
my own direction or derived from authentic sources since the year 1843. 
This volume of descriptions has been for some time completed and 
printed, with the exception of a hiatus from page 376 to 400, which, 
until the present time, I have been unable to fill in a satisfactory 
manner for the want of a sufficient collection of specimens. 
The long interval which has elapsed since the publication of Volume 
II will be explained, when it is known that the work, by act of the 
Legislature and the authority of the Commission having charge of the 
same, was suspended from 1850 to 1855, and was only revived in the 
latter year. 
I have the honor to be, 
With great respect, 
Your obedient servant, 
Albany, September 1859. 
JAMES HALL 
