24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 59. 



A rendezvous was effected near Westport, Missouri, and a start 

 made on June 23, 1853. An arduous, interesting, and at times 

 exciting journey was accomplished, the expedition arriving at Salt 

 Lake City on November 8 of the same year. Just after entering 

 the valley of Great Salt Lake Capt. Gunnison, Mr. Creutzfeldt, and 

 several other members of the party lost their lives at the hands of 

 marauding Indians. Lieut. Beckwith then assumed command, and 

 it was he who wrote the journal and prepared or directed the prep- 

 aration of maps and reports that have since been published. After 

 wintering at Salt Lake and making various observations in the 

 region the party proceeded westward to the Pacific slope. 



While the expedition may now be regarded as a mere incident in 

 western exploration and travel, it accomplished something of scientific 

 value, much of which was based upon the work of the naturalist. 

 However, the published narrative shows almost no interest in his 

 activities, while authors of papers relating to his collections accord 

 him no recognition, one of them even being careless about the 

 spelling of his name. 



Fishes representing 19 species were collected. Eighteen of these 

 received new names, many of which appeared in the Proceedings of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for 1856. They 

 were redescribed, with additional notes, in the tenth volume of the 

 Pacific Railroad Surveys. For easy reference the more important 

 data recorded by Girard, together with the generally accepted iden- 

 tifications of recent authors, are here tabulated. An examination 

 of the table will serve to show something of the faulty condition of 

 the records relating to the specimens. 



