4 BULLETIN 160, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



naturalists on the various expeditions and surveys of the United States 

 Government, and made an effort to get in contact either personally or 

 by letter with everyone who showed any interest in natural history. 



From Dr. Thomas H. Webb, secretary and surgeon of Commissioner 

 John Russell Bartlett's party of the United States and Mexican 

 Boundary Commission, the Smithsonian Institution received its first 

 collection from Mexico. Upon the completion of the Gila River 

 survey, Bartlett's party left Tucson, Ariz., on July 17, 1852, for El 

 Paso, Tex. Their route traversed northern Sonora and continued 

 through the villages of Tubac, Santa Cruz, Agua Prieta, Janos, and 

 Corralitos, the party arriving at El Paso, Tex., on August 18, 1852. 

 Owing to the lack of an adequate military escort, Bartlett accepted 

 the offer of one from the Mexican Boundary Commissioner, and then 

 proceeded to Ringgold Barracks, Tex., through the Mexican States of 

 Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon. The party left 

 El Paso, Tex., on October 7, 1852, en route to the city of Chihuahua, 

 and arrived there on October 22, 1852. The road taken passed 

 through Guadalupe, Carrizal, Encinillas, and Sauzillos. The type 

 specimen of Bvjo insidior Girard, collected by Dr. Thomas H. Webb, 

 came from Chihuahua, possibly from the city itself, but this is 

 uncertain. Bartlett states that when Doctor Webb's wagon broke 

 down south of the Laguna de los Patos, the members of the party 

 amused themselves by collecting insects, reptiles, and other objects 

 of natural history while it was being repaired. Bartlett's party 

 remained 10 days in the city of Chihuahua, and it is to be presumed 

 that Doctor Webb utilized his leisure to make collections, as there is 

 ample evidence in the commissioner's narrative that the surgeon 

 availed himself of every opportunity to collect minerals and natural- 

 history specimens. Leaving Chihuahua on November 1, 1852, 

 Bartlett's party passed through Saucillo, La Cruz, Las Garcas, Santa 

 Rosalia, Jimenez, Cerro Gordo, San Pedro del Gallo, Quincam^, and 

 La Pena, arriving at Parras on November 27, 1852. They reached 

 Saltillo, the capital of Coahuila, on December 7, 1852, Santa Catar- 

 ina on December 11, and Monterey, the capital of Nuevo Leon, on 

 December 12. They left Monterey the next day by a route that 

 passed through Marin, Carrizitos, and Cerralvo, and on December 

 19, 1852, they arrived at Mier. The following day the party passed 

 through Camargo and thence across the Rio Grande to Ringgold 

 Barracks in Texas. 



John H. Clark, a collector employed by the United States and Mexi- 

 can Boundary Survey under the direction of Commissioner Bartlett, 

 accompanied Col. J. D. Graham, chief astronomer, from Fort Davis, 

 Tex., to Copper Mines, N. Mex., where they arrived on August 2, 

 1851. On August 28, Bartlett and his personal party set out for 

 Santa Cruz, Sonora, to replenish their supplies. On September 18, 



