To the Honorable the President and Board of Trustees of
the College of New Jersey:
Gentlemen:
I have the honor to transmit herewith the Palæontological Report of the College Scientific Expedition of 1877.
The fossils collected by the Palæontological party, and deposited by the chief of the expedition in the Geological Museum, consisted of two sets, one numbering some two thousand specimens of fossil plants and insects from the tertiary beds of Central Colorado, the other of a considerable series of fossil vertebrates, mostly mammals, from the tertiary beds of Wyoming Territory, around Fort Bridger. This last collection has been studied and worked out with unabated zeal and diligence by the three post-graduate members of the Palæontological party, Messrs. H. Osborn, W. Scott, and F. Speir, who devoted most of the time of their course to this special work, with what success this Report will show.
It will be a source of gratification to the generous friends of the College, who furnished means for the Scientific Expedition of 1877, that it not only enriched our Museum to so great an extent, but did more still by fostering in our College a thorough study of Palæontology, which could not have been undertaken without such means as these thus placed at the disposal of our students.
The fossil insects and plants have been intrusted to the hands of the best specialists for determination. Dr. S. Scudder, of Cambridge, Mass., has kindly consented to revise the insects. Prof. G. L. Lequereux the plants.
Very Respectfully,
A. GUYOT,
Director of the E. M. Museum of Geology and Archæology.