FOURTH
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF TEXAS.

E. T. Dumble, State Geologist.

The present Geological Survey has completed the fourth year of its existence.

The law under which the Survey is working defines its operations, and these may be summarized as follows:

First. The making of a Geological and Mineralogical Survey of the State of Texas.

Second. "The examination of all beds or deposits of ores, coals, clays, marls, and other mineral substances requisite to a correct knowledge of the extent and value thereof."

Third. The examination of like deposits and analyses of ores for citizens, under certain conditions and for prescribed fees.

Fourth. The collection and preservation of specimens of the organic remains and objects of natural history peculiar to the State.

Fifth. Annual and special reports of the work done, money received and expended.

By this law our work is not confined to the minerals of the State alone, as some seem to think, but embraces, as it should, the broader fields of geology and natural history. This should be so, because a thorough knowledge of the geology of a region is requisite for a proper study of the mineralogy, and is the foundation of the investigation from an economic standpoint. Indeed, it is this very fact that creates the necessity of a geological survey being made by the State. Were it possible for the