INTRODUCTION IX 



Many new forms were described from "Indianola," a town no longer existing 

 but formerly located in what is now Calhoun County, Texas. Collecting was 

 equally abundant in some other regions visited by boundary surveyors. 

 Among the members of the various groups, tlie names of J. H. Clark and 

 D. N. Couch are perhaps more often found than others, a fact indicating 

 their ability first to track down and catch the smaller, less conspicuous 

 creatures, then to preserve, label, and dispatch them in boxes for the long 

 journey east. 



The geographical and geological explorations and surveys of lands west of 

 the 100th meridian, begun in 1869 and continued through 1879, each year 

 followed a different route. In order to scour the areas of greatest promise 

 and to estimate rainfall, soil conditions, temperatures, and other natural 

 conditions that might influence the success or failure of future agricultural 

 ventures, the parties were subdivided. Some who went with these expeditions 

 later acquired considerable fame in science — among others, Coues, Yarrow, 

 and Cope. Many of the new species secured by these men were later also 

 named and described by them. 



Institutions and persons in foreign lands donated or exchanged many 

 specimens. The Jardin des Plantes of Paris in 1858 sent specimens that had 

 been collected in the Old World and that had been studied by Dumeril and 

 Bibron, two of the foremost herpetologists in Europe at the time. Part of 

 the Bonaparte collection, received in 1869, contains European material 

 still valuable for comparison. Felix Poey, a Cuban scholar and naturalist 

 of renown, in 1856 began sending reptiles and amphibians of Cuba, and 

 continued to do so throughout his life. 



Much collecting was the work of enthusiastic amateurs from the United 

 States wishing to fill in the blank spaces on the faunal maps of the world. 

 Such collecting continues today. John Xantus de Vesey (J. Xantus), U.S. 

 Consul stationed in Baja California in 1859, and in Colima in 1863, was a 

 noteworthy collector. One of the defects of many 19th-century collections 

 was the frequent lack of precise locality data, and Xantus' material from 

 Mexico is worthy of mention for the care he took in numbering every speci- 

 men and entering the locality for each number in one of his numerous letters 

 to officials at the Smithsonian. 



W. L. Abbott of Philadelphia, a world traveler and sportsman, early in 

 life took a keen interest in securing all kinds of exotic animals for the 

 national collection. From 1893 until his death in 1937, he worked the lesser- 

 known parts of Asia, the East Indies, Africa, and the West Indies. Many new 

 forms were discovered and named from his material. 



The National Geographic Society during the 20th century has financed 

 many rewarding collecting trips to all parts of the globe to enrich still further 

 our knowledge of the fauna of little-traveled regions. The medical research 

 teams of the Armed Services continue to send fine collections from the areas 

 in which they are stationed. Much of this recently deposited material has 



