RECENT MOLLUSCA OF AUGUSTUS ADDISON GOULD 11 



irresponsible members of the Society, in which some 'Honorable' men 

 thoughtlessly took part. Many valuable specimens were lost partic- 

 ularly shells and skins of birds" (Haskell, 1942, p. 7). 



Soon after his return to the United States in 1840, Couthouy went 

 to Washington to study the shells that had been sent back. In the 

 meantime, the National Institution had hired a clergyman who knew 

 nothing of natural science to unpack the specimens. The worthy 

 gentleman, noting that some of the numbered metal tags in the jars 

 were discoloring the alcohol, carefully removed the tags, and placed 

 them together in a separate jar without replacing them with any other 

 means of identification! With one act he thus rendered it impossible 

 for Couthouy to identify the specimens and match them with his notes. 

 Moreover, some specimens were gone: prominent conchologists had 

 been favored — for a consideration — with many rare specimens before 

 any of the naturalists on the voyage had returned. Couthouy worked 

 over the material as best he could until the expedition came home. 

 At this time the already low salaries of the naturalists were decreased 

 by some 44 percent. With a wife and two children to support, 

 Couthouy quit in disgust. Eventually he became captain of a 

 merchant vessel, and later he searched for treasure on the Spanish 

 Main. He met his death during the Civil War when, as commander of 

 the S. S. Chillicothe, he was killed by a rebel sharpshooter while his 

 vessel was engaged against a number of troops on the banks of the 

 Red River in Louisiana. 



Gould selected to do the report on mollusks. — With the 

 return of the expedition, President John Tyler assigned Robert 

 Greenhow, translator for the State Department, to draw up the re- 

 ports and write the journal of the expedition. Fortunately for Wilkes, 

 his friends in Congress blocked the appointment and referred the 

 matter to the Joint Committee on the Library, which drew up the 

 plan that was finally adopted. The Committee appointed Benjamin 

 Tappan, Senator from Ohio, as its agent to supervise the preparation 

 of the reports, with Wilkes, who had been detached from the Navy at 

 the request of the committee, to be in immediate control. Joseph 

 Drayton, the artist, was put in charge of the duties connected with 

 actual publication, including the preparation of the drawings for 

 ichthyology and conchology. 



Couthouy's resignation was timely; he must have been aware that, 

 after his controversy with Wilkes, it would be highly doubtful that 

 the latter would consider him for the job of writing the report on the 

 Mollusca. Wilkes, in fact, never seems to have entertained the idea 

 for a moment but urged that Drayton the artist do the report. Dray- 

 ton was not a conchologist and Senator Tappan would not accept the 

 proposal. Judging from the available correspondence, the Senator 



665-231—64 2 



