CHRONOLOGICAL CATALOGUE. 51 



ld67. Baird, Spencer F. — Continued. 



45. LEPUS, Lin. 



35. Lepui texianus, AnH. and Buch P-617 



36. Lepus Nuttalii, Bach 617 



Appendix A.— List of authorities referred to in the preceding report 685-703 



Appendix B.— Alphabetical list of localities referred to in the preceding report 704-715 



Alphabetical indices 715-735 



Explanation of plates (including those in the present volume and also those in i-xvi, 



intended to accompany the special reports in subsequent volumes 737-762 



Systematic list of illustrations 753-757 



77. 



1857. Baird, Spencer F. Catalogues of Fishes, copied from a "Report on the 

 Fishes observed on the Coasts of New Jersey and Long Island during the 

 summer of 1854. By Spencer F. Baird, Assistant Secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution." From the Ninth Annual Report of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution for 1854. < Catalogue of Zoological and Botanical Productions of the 

 County of Cape May, in Geology of the County of Cape May, State of Neiv Jersey, 

 1857. pp. 146-148. 

 A name catalogue only, the scope of which is explained by its title. 



78. 



18,58. Baird, Spencer F. Explorations and Surveys for a Railroad Route from the 

 Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. | War Department. | — | Birds : | By 

 Spencer F. Baird, | Assistant Secretary Smithsonian Institution, | with the 

 co-operation of | John Cassin and George N. Lawrence. | — | Washington, 

 D. C. I 1858. pp. i-lvi, 1-1005. (No illustrations.) Dated Washington, Oct. 

 20, 1853. < ^=]J,|™fr' I H""- of 8«I>«seata««,. | >=- Doo. | _ | jj^. 

 ports I of I Explorations and Surveys, | to | ascertain the most practicable and 

 economical route for a railroad | from the | Mississippi River to the Pacific 

 Ocean. | Made under the direction of the Secretary of War, in | 1853-6, | 

 according to acts of Congress of March 3, 1853, May 31, 1854, and Augusts, 

 1854. I — I Volume IX. | — | Washington : | A. O. P. Nicholson, Printer. | 1858. 

 4to, pp. Ivi, 1005. 



"This report is complete in itself, and entirely indeijeudent of the various special articles 

 by dilFercnt naturalists of the several Surveys ; an elaborate formal treatise on all the birds 

 of North America north of Mexico. It represents the most important single step ever taken 

 in the progress of American ornithology in all that relates to the technicalities. The nomen- 

 clature is entirely remodeled from that of the immediately preceding Audubonian period, 

 and for the first time brought abreast of the then existing aspect of the case. It was adopted 

 by the Smith.sonian Institution, and thousands of separately printed (4to and 8vo) copies of 

 the ' List of Species ' were distributed during succeeding years to institutions and individ- 

 uals ; the names came at once into almost universal employ, and so continued, with scarcely 

 appreciably diminished force, until about 1872. The synonymy of the work is more exten- 

 sive and elaborate and reliable than any before presented. The compilation wa.s almost 

 entirely original, very few citations having been made at second-hand, and these 'being indi- 

 cated by quotation-marks. The general text consists of diagnoses or descriptions of each 

 species, with extended and elaborate criticisms, comparisons, and commentary. Of the gen- 

 eral character of the specific determinations, it may be said that the author's tendency was 

 to push specific discriminations beyond a point now usual ; so that, though the work contains 

 notably few purely nominal species, it has many that have proven to be simply geographical 

 races. Tabular lists of the specimens examined, with localities where procured, collector, 

 date of collection, and many measurements, are given. The work includes no biographical 

 matter, nor is it illustrated. 



"The appearance of so great a work, from the hands of a most methodical, learned, and 

 sagacious nr.turalist, aided by two of the leading ornithologists of America, exerted an influ- 

 ence perhaps stronger and more widely felt than that of any of its predecessors, Audubon'a 

 and "Wilson's not excepted, and marked an epoch in the history of American ornithology. 



