192 THE BOTANISTS OF PHILADELPHIA. 



was selected as the principal zoologist, Subsequently, others 

 were added. Yet the scientific fame of that expedition 

 largely rests upon the collections and work of Dr. Pickering 

 and his associate, Professor Dana. Dr. Pickering, although 

 retaining the ichthyology, turned his attention during the 

 three and a half years of the voyage to anthropology, and 

 to the study of the geographical distribution of animals and 

 plants; to the latter especially as affected by the operations 

 and movements of the races of man. To these subjects the 

 remainder of his life was assiduously devoted. Dr. Pickering, 

 a year after the return of the expedition, and at his own 

 expense, crossed the Atlantic, visited Egypt, Arabia, the 

 eastern part of Africa, and western and northern India. 

 As a result of these explorations, in 1848 he published a 

 volume on "The Races of Man and their Geographical 

 Distribution," being the ninth volume of the "Report of 

 the AVilkes' Exploring Expedition." Some time afterward 

 in the fifteenth volume of this series appeared an extensive 

 work on the " Geographical Distribution of Animals and 

 Plants." In the course of printing, appropriations of Con- 

 gress stopped, and the publication of the results of the 

 celebrated expedition was abandoned. Under a privilege 

 granted by Congress, Dr. Pickering bought out in 1854 

 a small edition of the first part of his essay, perhaps the 

 most important part, and in 1876 a more bulky portion, 

 " On Plants and Animals in their Wild State," which is 

 largely a transcript of the note-book memoranda. 



These arc all his publications, excepting some short 

 communications to scientific journals and the proceedings 

 of learned societies, but lie is known to have been long 

 and laboriously engaged upon a work which a lifetime 



