CHRONOLOGICAL CATALOGUE. 5 



16. 



1851. Baird, Spencer F. Report of the Assistant Secretary in charge of the natural 

 history department [of the Smithsonian Institution] for the year 1850. <^Fifth 

 Annual Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution for the years 1850, 

 1851, pp. 41-50. 



Contains a list of the principal accessions to the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution 

 made prior to January 1, 1851, p. 41, and summary of Specimens belonging to S. F. Baird and 

 deposited by him in the cabinet of the Smithsonian Institution.* 

 To Joseph Henuy, LL. D., 



Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution : 



Sni : I beg leave to present to you a report of operations up to January 1, 1851, in the De- 

 partment of Natural History, assigned to my charge. 



I commence with a list of the most important specimens of natural history received at the 

 Smithsonian Institution prior to January 1, 1851. The dates of reception have not been 

 given, owing to the fact that most had arrived before July 1, 1850, the period when my official 

 connection with the Institution commenced. More detailed accounts of these objects will 

 hereafter be furnished, as well as of those which may in future be received. 



LIST OF THE PEINCIPAL ACCESSIOIS-S TO THE MUSEUM OF THE SMITHSONIAN- 

 INSTITUTION MADE PRIOR TO JANUARY 1, 1851. 



Lieutenant Lynch, U. S. N. Sealed bottles containing water from the Dead Sea ; cones of 

 the cedar of Lebanon. 



Miss D. L. Dix. Box of minerals from North Carolina. 



Dr. F. B. Hough. Box of minerals and fossils from St. Lawrence County, New York. 



Mr. Guest. Box of minerals from same locality. 



Mr. Polkinhorn Box of Tertiary fossils from North Carolina. 



Dr. James Eights, Albany, N. Y. Box of sands, clays, and concretions from the vicinity of 

 the city of Albany, N. T. 



Dr. William B. Smith, Indiana. Silu:-ian fossils from Indiana. 



"William Phillips, Esq., Augusta, Ga. Box of minerals from Georgia. 



Oscar Freeman and Gilbert Taylor, civil engineers. Very large specimens of crystallized 

 calcareous spar coated with quartz, found in tunnelling St. Anthony's Nose, Peekskill, N. Y. 



Faxon D. Atherton, Esq. Specimens of native silver from Chili. 



Maj. B. Alvord, Fort Gratiot, Mich. Keg containing fishes from Lake Hnron, caaght in 

 the vicinity of Fort Gratiot. 



Col. J. J. Abert. Box of minerals from Arkansas. 



R. J. Pollard, \Yashingtou City. Skeleton of gazelle (Antilope saiga Pall.) from Turkey. 



Thomas "Whelpley, Brest, Mich. Cask of Unionidte and other shells from Lake Erie. 



John G. Pendergast, Sackctt's Harbor. Box of minerals. 



Dr. Jared P. Kiitland, Cleveland, Ohio. -Jar of rare salamanders. 



Maj. J. H. Carleton, Fort Leavenworth. Skull of bighorn (Ovis montana) ; horns of bighorn; 

 antlers of black-tailed deer (Cervus macrotis); skull of Antelope {Antilope amerieana), from 

 Black Hills, Fort Laramie. 



W. Pidgeon, Iowa. Crania and other relics from various aboriginal mounds ; paintings in 

 oil on cloth, of various mounds in the Northwest, by a native Sioux Indian. 



Robert HowuU, Nichols, Tioga County, N. Y. Box of minerals and fossils from Tioga 

 County, N. Y. 



THE FOLLOWING SPECIMENS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED FROM COLLECTORS WHO 

 WEPvE ASSISTED IN THEIR EXPLORATIONS BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITU- 

 TION : 



Augustus Fendler. Collections of plants made in the vicinity of Santa F6, N. Mex., in 

 1846 and 1847. 



Charles Wright. Plants collected in an expedition from Texas to El Paso in 1849. 



Thaddeus Culbertson. Skins, skulls, and skeletons of mammalia from the Upper Missouri 

 fossil vertebrate animals from White Rivei'. 



Many specimens brought back by Mr. Culbertson were presented to the Institution through 

 him by members of the American Fui- Company. Among them may be mentioned Messrs. 

 Alexander Culbertson, Ferdinand Culbertson, Edward T. Denig, Schlegel and Gilbert. 

 Messrs. Denig and F. Culbertson, at the request of Mr. Alexander Culpertson, prepared skins 

 of the grizzly bear and other largo mammalia. 



* This list and summary, not having been included with the Secretary's report in the vol- 

 ume of reprints issued in 1857, is here reproduced, being of much interest as a record of tha 

 collections which formed the nucleus of the National Museum. 



