PREF ACH. 
The plan for the publication of the reports of the Geological Survey, sub- 
mitted to and adopted by the Geological Board, contemplated the publication 
of two volumes on Geology, two on Paleontology, one on Zoology and Botany, 
one on Economic Geology, and a Geological Map of the State. 
The Geological Corps were required by the organic law of. the Survey to 
investigate the general geological structure of the State; to collect, study, and 
describe the fossils contained in the rocks, and,to make surveys and reports 
upon the Geology and resources of each one of its eighty-eight counties. As 
the material was gathered in obedience to these instructions, it was soon found 
that the report would exceed in dimensions the estimate made for it. The 
preparation of a third volume on Geology, and a third on Paleontology was, 
therefore, authorized by the Geological Board. 
Of the series of publications enumerated above, two volumes on Geology and 
two on Paleontology only had been finished when the appropriations for the 
continuance of the work of the Geological Corps were suspended by the 
Legislature. Since that date Vol. III, Part I, Geology, and the Geological 
Map of the State have been finished by the gratuitous labor of the Corps, and 
with an expenditure of several hundred dollars from the private resources of 
the Chief Geologist. They also have been published by the authority of the 
Legislature. 
The volume on Zoology and Botany was also prepared, and its publication 
was authorized in 1878. The reports written for this volume were as follows : 
On Mammals, by Prof. A. W. Brayton; on Fishes, by Dr. D. S. Jordan; on 
Birds, by Dr. J. M. Wheaton; on Mollusks, by Dr. R. M. Byrnes; on Rep- 
tiles and Amphibians, by Dr. W. H. Smith; and a catalogue of the plants of 
the State was compiled by Dr. H. C. Beardslee. The manuscripts of some of 
these reports, recalled by their authors for changes or additions, were retained 
by them so long that the publication of the volume has been much delayed. 
They also have been expanded to such a degree that it has been found impos- 
sible to include them all in one cover. In the hope of doing this, however, 
the volume was enlarged to somewhat undesirable dimensions. Of the manu- 
scripts prepared, those on the Plants of the State by Dr. Beardslee, and on the 
