RECENT MOLLUSCA OF AUGUSTUS ADDISON GOULD 5 



State of Massachusetts. Through the course of time, both of these 

 collections have been deposited in the Museum of Comparative Zoology 

 and, though they have suffered numerous vicissitudes over the years 

 through renumbering, relabeling, and neglect, it has still been possible 

 to relocate some of the types which the collections contained. 



Shells from Liberia and burma. — During the years of 1843- 

 1850 when Gould was corresponding secretary of the Society, he made 

 numerous notes which are recorded in the Proceedings. Among these 

 notes are descriptions from remote places of material given him by 

 missionaries and travellers. The Rev. Francis Mason of Newton, 

 Massachusetts, sent him many new species from Burma and Drs. 

 Savage and Perkins and Mr. Charles J. Bates sent him new shells 

 from Liberia. It was at about this time, in 1846, that Gould began his 

 major descriptive work, the shells of the United States Exploring 

 Expedition. 



The United States Exploring Expedition 



During the second quarter of the 19th century a number of ambitious 

 exploring expeditions were carried out in the Pacific Ocean by some of 

 the great European powers. Between 1825 and 1828 the British ship 

 Blossom explored the Pacific under the command of Captain F. W. 

 Beechey, and from 1826 to 1829 France employed the Astrolabe under 

 Dumont d'Urville in the same area. 



The South Pacific and Antarctic Seas had been frequented by Ameri- 

 can whalers and trading vessels since the early years of the century, 

 but more information was required about these little known and poorly 

 charted regions. It was not until May 21, 1828, however, that the 

 House of Representatives of the United States adopted the following 

 resolution: 



Resolved, That it is expedient that one of our small public vessels 

 be sent to the Pacific Ocean and South Seas, to examine the coasts, 

 islands, harbours, shoals and reefs, in those seas, and to ascertain their 

 true situation and description (Haskell, 1942, p. 2). 



President John Quincy Adams, who had recommended a more 

 limited expedition, and his Secretary of the Navy, Samuel L. Southard, 

 proceeded with preparations for the voyage. The Senate failed to 

 ratify the measure and Southard was severely censured, but later, as 

 a senator himself, he was able to support the same projected expedition. 



The dogged determination of J. N. Reynolds of Ohio, who in 1834 

 published the "Voyage of the United States Frigate Potomac . . . 

 During the Circumnavigation of the Globe in the Years 1831-34," 

 finally made the project a reality. Incessantly he urged the govern- 

 ment to send out to the South Seas a surveying expedition — to be 



