92 APPENDIX TO JOURNAL. 



operations. Dr. SteindacLner, altliougli an admirable collector in all 

 departments, was especially engaged in the care of the ichthyological 

 collections. His great knowledge and untiring industrj- made his 

 assistance invaluable. Indeed, without him I could not have carried out 

 the comprehensive scheme for collecting which I had laid out. Mr. 

 Blake had special charge of the mollusks, and his time was chiefly em- 

 ployed in the drawing of perishable specimens. As I cannot give you 

 an accurate summary of the zoological collections, I will give you a 

 slight sketch of my general scheme, alluded to above, that you may 

 understand their signilicance as a whole. 



"I have endeavored, in the first place, to collect as many specimens of 

 the same species as possible, in every stage of growth and every con- 

 dition of development, in order to ascertain the range of variation in 

 each species. M j second object was to learn the boundaries of the dif- 

 ferent faunae, especially along the Pacific coast from the strait of 

 Magellan to California. In this I have included, wherever it was pos- 

 sible, the fishes from the riv^ers on the western slope of the continent, 

 for comparison with those on the eastern ; but this part of my plan was 

 difficult of execution, because I had not the means of collecting in land. 



"During our whole journey I was careful to make, or to have made, 

 large numbers of anatomical preparations of such jiarts of marine ani- 

 mals as can rarely be well studied from alcoholic specimens. The most 

 valuable of these preparations are those of fish brains. 



"I need hardly add- that we owed the great opportunity for scientific 

 investigation afforded by the voyage of the Hassler to the liberal policy 

 of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, who is ever ready to com- 

 bine the larger interests of science with the special work of the survey, 

 when it can be done without detriment to the latter. I should add, 

 however, that the means for making the zoological collections were con- 

 tributed by gentlemen of Boston, who raised nearly $20,000 for the pur- 

 chase of alcohol, jars, and other apparatus for collecting on a large scale, 

 and for charges of freight in forwarding the si^ecimens from foreign 

 ports. The latter charges were, however, comparatively small, owing 

 to the liberality of both railroad and steamship companies, of the com- 

 manders of our naval forces in various ports, to whom I had special 

 recommendations from the Secretary of the Navy, and of the captains of 

 vessels employed upon whaling voyages or in private mercantile enter- 

 prises." 



