The Belleville and Breese quadrangles are bounded by meridians 89° 30' and 90° and parallels 38° 30' and 38° 45' and thus include one-eight of a square degree of the earth's surface, an area, in that latitude, of 466.56 square miles. They lie in southwestern Illinois (see fig. 1), a few miles directly east of St. Louis, and comprise considerable portions of Clinton, Madison, and St. Clair counties, and a small part of Bond County. Belleville, from which the Belleville quadrangle is named, is in the southwest corner of the area.