EEPORT OF THE SECEETARY. 23 



following sentence containing the acknowledgment of the author for 

 the services which have thus been rendered him : " Above all, I must 

 mention the Smithsonian Institution, whose officers, in the true spirit 

 of its founder, have largely contributed to the advancement of my 

 researches by forwarding to me for examination not only all the 

 specimens of Testudinata collected for the museum of the Institution, 

 but also those brought to Washington by the naturalists of the dif- 

 ferent parties that have explored the western Territories, or crossed 

 the continent with the view of determining the best route for the 

 Pacific railroad. These specimens have enabled me to determine the 

 geographical distribution of this order of reptiles with a degree of 

 precision which I could not have attained without this assistance." 

 Besides this, the Institution caused special collections of turtles to be 

 made for Professor Agassiz, from those parts of the country from 

 which no specimens had previously been obtained. 



It was originally intended, as announced in the prospectus, to issue 

 one volume a year, but the author found that the first volume was 

 insufficient to contain all the matter which he had designed to give 

 in it. Its publication was therefore delayed, that the whole of this 

 part of his general subject might be presented at once, and hence two 

 volumes have been issued together. The large subscription which 

 has been obtained has enabled the publishers to extend the original 

 plan, and to expend a much greater sum on the engravings than was 

 at first thought possible. The work will serve to increase and extend 

 the reputation of the illustrious author, as well as to afford a striking 

 example of the liberality of our country and its growing appreciation 

 of abstract science. 



Under the head of publications, and in justice to the memory of a 

 distinguished naturalist, a profound scholar, and a worthy man, the 

 late Dr. Gerard Troost, of Tennessee, it ought to be stated in this 

 Eeport, that after his death, several years ago, a memoir he had pre- 

 pared on the organic remains known as Crinoidea^ illustrated by a 

 collection of specimens, was presented to the Smithsonian Institution 

 for publication. It was submitted to two naturalists of high reputa- 

 tion, and found by them to be an important addition to knowledge, 

 though left by its author in an unfinished condition. The gentlemen 

 to whom it was referred generously offered to supply the deficiencies, 

 and to prepare the work for the press. Their engagements, however, 

 have since been such as to prevent up to this time the completion of 

 the task which they undertook to accomplish. One of the gentlemen 



