RECENT MOLLUSCA OF AUGUSTUS ADDISON GOULD 19 



The expedition left Lynnhaven Bay, New Jersey, on June 11, 1853. 

 The vessels included the John Hancock, Fenimore Cooper, Porpoise, 

 Kennedy, Susquehanna, and Vincennes. The Porpoise and the Vin- 

 cennes had been on the earlier United States Exploring Expedition, 

 the latter vessel having been Wilkes' flagship. Now under the com- 

 mand of Captain Ringgold, the ship was boarded by William Stimpson 

 as official zoologist. I will let Stimpson tell his own story of the expe- 

 dition by presenting excerpts from his unpublished journal, beginning 

 with the first port visited after leaving the United States. 



StIMPSON's JOURNAL. 



July 8, 1853. On Friday at 11 o'clock made the N.W. point of 

 Madeira. 



July 9. [Anchored in Funchal.] Dredged the harbor, chiefly in 

 fourteen to twenty fathoms, sandy bottom, and got shells of the 

 genera: Venus, Cytherea, Cardium, Tellina, Pectin, Thracia, Mac- 

 tra, Pleurotoma, Mangelia, Bingicula, etc. 



July 15. This day I took a ride about the country [in vicinity of 

 Funchal] to hunt for land shells. On account of the dryness of 

 the season, but few were obtained. 



July 19. At five in the afternoon the Vincennes passed Palma one 

 of the Canary Islands. 



July 28. At twelve o'clock we made land which proved to be the 

 island of Maio. We afterwards made St. Jago Island [Sao Tiago, 

 Cape Verde Islands] and at sunset anchored in the harbor of 

 Porto Pray a [Praia]. 



July 29. Dredged in different parts of the harbor until eight o'clock. 

 The bottom near the town was sand, depth ten, sometimes only 

 five fathoms, yielding Nucula and other bivalves, and a few uni- 

 valves. While dredging the frigate Constitution appeared and 

 lay to nearby while holding communications with the Vincennes. 



August 6. N. Lat, 8°18'; W. Long. 17°9'. [At sea.] We spoke 

 today to the ship Arab, thirty days out from Boston and got 

 copies and files of the "Boston Journal." 



September 12. S. Lat. 34°37'; E. Long. 18°14'. [Arrival at Cape 

 of Good Hope.] We approached the land, but slowly, giving me 

 an opportunity of using my tow net to advantage. We entered 

 False Bay with an increasing breeze. 



September 12 to November 9, 1853. Cape of Good Hope. 



Simon's Town, a British naval station, is a little place of about 

 four hundred inhabitants which is spread along the shores of a 

 slight indentation of the coast on the West Side of False Bay, 

 about six miles from its head which is called Simon's Bay. The 

 shores of this little bay consist of dune sands with here and there 

 a rocky ledge projecting above it at low water, with scattered 



