18 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 239 



Pacific Shores of North America." Because most of Gould's species 

 are noted in the resultant work to which his name is attached as 

 joint author and because I did not find any of the types in the 

 Carpenter collection in Montreal, it may be assumed that the species 

 were lost in transit or that they were returned to Gould and thence 

 to the original collectors. 



The North Pacific Exploring Expedition 



In 1853 the United States sent out a second expedition, known as 

 the North Pacific Exploring Expedition, under the command of Cap- 

 tain Ringgold and later Captain Rodgers. Its purpose was to obtain 

 knowledge of the seas surrounding Japan and the extreme northern 

 regions of the Pacific Ocean. The naturalist chosen to accompany 

 the expedition was William Stimpson, who was already known for 

 his dredging and other work along the Atlantic coast. 



William stimpson. — William was born in the Roxbury district of 

 Boston on February 14, 1832, to Herbert H. Stimpson and Mary Ann 

 Brewster. His father was a prosperous dealer in stoves and ranges 

 at Congress and Water Streets. Young Stimpson was educated in 

 the public schools, and in September 1847, when only 16, he entered 

 the upper class of Boston High School and was graduated the following 

 July. Even before this, we are told, he had become interested in 

 natural history. A copy of Dr. Gould's "Invertebrata of Massachu- 

 setts" came to his attention. He went to call on the Doctor to see if 

 he could secure a copy of his own. Dr. Gould gave him an order on 

 the state librarian for a copy and the joy with which William marched 

 out of the State House with the volume was a story he often related 

 in later years. In addition, Gould brought Stimpson to the attention 

 of Agassiz and introduced the youth to the Boston Society of Natural 

 History. 



The boy's relatives were anxious that he should go into business; 

 his trips to the seashore and his dredging expeditions were not looked 

 upon with favor. He was sent out with a civil engineer, but his em- 

 ployer reported that he was too fond of collecting land snails to make 

 a good surveyor. He was then allowed to enter the Latin School in 

 1848. The following summer he succeeded in accompanying a fishing 

 smack to Grand Manan, where he studied the marine animals. Still 

 against strong family opposition, he was permitted to join the workers 

 at Agassiz' laboratory at Harvard in October 1850. On December 4, 

 1850, he was appointed Curator of Mollusks at the Boston Society of 

 Natural History. He held this post until May 18, 1853, when at the 

 age of 21, he was appointed naturalist to the North Pacific Exploring 

 Expedition. 



