tions a systematic plan has been followed to secure a representation of the rocks, minerals, and fossils of each formation in the State. The collections will be added to as opportunity permits.

THE RELATION OF THE STATE SURVEY TO THE OWNERSHIP OF MINERAL-BEARING LANDS.

The relation of the State Survey to the ownership of mineral-bearing lands is specifically defined. The Survey law provides that it shall be the duty of the State Geologist and his assistants, when they discover any mineral deposits or substance of value, to notify the owners of the land upon which such deposits occur before disclosing their location to any other person or persons. Failure to do so is punishable by fine and imprisonment. It is not intended by the law, however, that the State Geologist's time shall be devoted to examinations and reports upon the value of private mineral lands. Reports of this character are properly the province of commercial geologists, who may be employed by owners of land for that purpose. To accomplish the best results, the work of the Survey must be in accordance with definite plans by which the State's resources are investigated in an orderly manner. Only such examinations of private lands can be made as constitute a part of the regularly planned operations of the Survey.

SAMPLES SENT TO THE SURVEY FOR EXAMINATION.

Samples of rocks, minerals and fossils will be at all times gladly received, and reported upon. Attention to inquiries and general correspondence are a part of the duties of the office, and afford a means through which the Survey may in many ways be useful to the citizens of the State.

The following suggestions are offered for the guidance of those submitting samples:

1. The exact location of all samples should be given. This should be carefully written out in full and placed on the inside of the package.

2. The statement accompanying the sample should give the conditions under which the specimen occurs, whether an isolated fragment or part of a larger mass or deposit.

3. Each package should be addressed to the Florida State Geological Survey, Tallahassee. The name and address of the sender should be plainly written on the outside.

4. Transportation charges, whether by mail, express or freight, should in all cases be prepaid.

THE COLLECTION OF STATISTICAL INFORMATION.

For many purposes the collection and publication of statistical information is helpful, both to the industries concerned and to the general public. Such statistical information is desired from all the mineral industries of the State. Such information will be recognized as strictly confidential in so far as it relates to the private business of any individual or company, and will be used only in making up State and County totals. The co-operation of the various industries of the State is invited in order that the best possible showing of the State's products may be made annually.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

The following is a summary of the expenditures of the

Survey for the year ending June 2, 1908:

SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY OF FLORIDA.

A scientific study of the mineral industry is necessarily based upon a knowledge of the geology. The summary of the geological features of the State is given briefly at this time since the subject will be dealt with in more detail in a later bulletin to be issued by the State Survey.

Florida lies within and is a part of the general coastal plains deposits of the United States. These embrace a strip along the Atlantic and the Gulf coasts, varying in width and covering the eastern part of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and all of Florida, as well as much of the southern part of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. The formations of the coastal plains are sedimentary, containing much clay, shale, limestone and sandstone, and lie nearly horizontal or with but slight dip. The sediment making up these deposits, except the organic material of the limestone, came from higher lands to the north and west. The sea occupying the present position of Florida, was in early time remote from sources of sediment; so that the proportion of wash from the land was much less here than nearer the original shore line. This clear sea was favorable to the existence of an abundant shell life, their remains accumulating to form lime rock. Hence, in the Coastal Plains section, Florida is exceptional in the large amount of limestone that it contains.

In its general geology, Florida is of comparatively simple structure. The rocks are all of sedimentary origin, no igneous or greatly metamorphosed rocks occurring within the State. The strata lie for the most part, either horizontally, as formed, or with a slightly accentuated dip, and have suffered no great distortion such as often characterizes the rocks of a mountainous country. These sedimentary formations consist of limestones, sandstones, shales and clays. The underlying foundation rock throughout the State, being a massive and very thick limestone.

Formerly it was believed that the greater part, if not 2-GeoRepl

all of the State of Florida, was of coral formation. This view was founded upon the observations of Louis Agassiz and Joseph LeConte. The first publication on the subject by Agassiz appeared in 1852 as an appendix to the report of the Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey for the year ending November, 1851. Agassiz believed that not only the extreme south Florida and the Florida Keys were of coral formation, but that the Peninsula as far at least as the 28th degree of north latitude was of similar origin. LeConte's paper appeared in 1857, and to the conclusions of Agassiz1 added the theory that the keys rested upon a substructure of inorganic sediment carried by the Gulf Stream. Previous to these publications the true character of the limestone of the mainland had been recognized and described by several observers. J. H. Allen, in 1846, described the limestone outcropping in the vicinity of Tampa.2 During the same year T. A. Conrad publishes two papers on these formations, giving in the second paper a description of a number of the fossil shells contained in them.3. Tuomey in 1851 concurred in Conrad's reference of the Tampa formations to the early Tertiary.4

Bailey collected fossil foraminifera during the winter and spring of 1849-505 from a locality forty miles west of

10n the agency of the Gulf Stream in the formation of the Peninsula of Florida. Joseph LeConte, Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci. Proc. X, 103-119, pt. 2, 1857.

2Some facts respecting the Geology of Tampa Bay, Florida. J. H. Allen, Am. Jour. Sci. (2), vol. I, p. 38-42. 1846.

3Observations on the Geology of a Part of East Florida, with a catalog of Recent Shells of the Coast. T. A. Conrad, Am. Jour. Sci. (2), II, 36-48, 1846.

4 Notice of the Geology of the Florida Keys and of the Southern Coast of Florida. Tuomey, M. Am. Jour. Sci. (2) voi. XI, 390-394, 1851.

5 Microscopical Observations made in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Smithsonian Contr. Knowl. II, No. 8, 48 pp. 1851; Am. Jour. Sci. (2), XI, p. 86, 1857.