X PREFACE. 
diary. I soon fell into the liabit of giving her daily the 
more general results of my scientific observations, knowing 
that she would allow nothing to be lost which was worth 
preserving. In consequence of this mode of working, 
our separate contributions have become so closely inter- 
woven that we should hardly know how to disconnect 
them, and our common journal is therefore published, 
with the exception of a few unimportant changes, almost 
as it was originally written. In this volume I have at- 
tempted only to give such an account of my scientific 
work and its results as would explain to the public what 
were the aims of the expedition, and how far they have 
been accomplished. It is my hope to complete a work, 
already begun, on the Natural History, and especially on 
the Fishes of Brazil, in which will be recorded not only 
my investigations during the journey and those of my 
assistants in their independent excursions, but also the 
researches now regularly carried on in connection with 
the immense Brazilian collections stored in the Museum 
at Cambridge. This must, however, be the slow labor 
of many years, and can only be published very gradually. 
In the mean time I hope that this forerunner of the more 
special reports may serve to show that our year in Brazil, 
full as it was of enjoyment for all the party, was also rich 
in permanent results for science. 
L. AGASSIZ. 
