TO

GEORGE TICKNOR, ESQ.,

OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MY DEAR MR. TICKNOR,

I am glad to have your permission to dedicate these volumes to you, in remembrance of the many happy days spent in your society, and in that of your family and literary friends at Boston; a remembrance which would be without alloy, were it not for my frequent regrets that the broad Atlantic should separate so many congenial souls whom we both of us number among our friends in Europe and America.

Believe me,

With feelings of great regard,

Ever faithfully yours,

London, June 12, 1845.

CHARLES LYELL.

PREFACE.

THE reader is reminded that the general map of the geology of the United States and Canada forms the frontispiece of the second volume, and that the line of my route is traced upon it in the manner described in the explanation of the map at Vol II. p. 238

As the present work embraces a great variety of subjects to which my thoughts were turned during my travels in North America, I have endeavoured to confine myself as far as possible to the communication of such scientific matter as I thought might be of interest to the general reader. For a more detailed account of my geological observations alluded to in the course of these volumes, I must refer to the following published papers and abstracts of memoirs read to the Geological Society of London.

1. Letter to Dr. Fitton on the Blossberg Coal District and Stigmaria: Proceedings of the Geological Society, vol. iii. p. 554. 1841.

2. Recession of the Falls of Niagara : Ibid. vol. iii. p. 595. 1842. Resumed, vol. iv. p. 19. 1843.

3. Tertiary Formations in Virginia and other parts of the United States: Ibid. vol. iii. p. 735. 1842.

4. Fossil Foot-Prints of Birds and Impressions of Rain-drops in Connecticut Valley. Ibid. vol. iii. p. 793. 1842. 5. Tertiary Strata of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts: Ibid. vol. iv. p. 31. 1843.

6. On the Geological Position of the Mastodon giganteus, and other Remains at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, and other Localities in the United States. Ibid. vol. iv. p. 36. 1843.

7. On upright Fossil Trees found in the Coal Strata of Cumberland, Nova Scotia: Silliman's Journal, vol. xlv. No. 2. p. 353. 1843.

8. Coal Formations, Gypsum, and Marine Limestones of Nova Scotia: Ibid. p. 356.

9. Bed of Plumbago and Anthracite in Mica-schist, near Worcester, Massachusetts, with Appendix containing Analyses by Dr. Percy: Quarterly Journ. of Geol. Soc. No. 2. p. 416. May, 1845.

10. Cretaceous Strata of New Jersey, with Appendix, on the Fossil Corals of the same, by Mr. Lonsdale: Ibid. No. 1. p. 301. Feb. 1845.

11. Miocene Formations of Virginia and North Carolina, &c., with Appendix, on Fossil Corals, by Mr. Lonsdale: read to the Geol. Soc., March, 1845. Preparing for publication, Ibid. No. 4.

12. On the White Limestone of South Carolina and Georgia, and the Eocene Strata of other parts of the U. S., with Appendix, on the Corals, by Mr. Lonsdale: read to the Geol. Soc., March, 1845. Preparing for publication, Ibid. No. 4.

Abstracts of most of these papers have also appeared in Silliman's "American Journal of Science and Arts," for the corresponding years.

London, June 14th, 1845.

For the Description of the Plates and Maps, see Vol. II. 1

.p.

198.