49 [ 108 ] 



2. EXPLORATIONS. 



Explorations under patronage of the Smithsonian Institution. — The 

 first of these is tliat of Proiessor C. B. Adams, of Amherst. This gentle- 

 man returned in the spring, from an excursion to Jamaica, and other places 

 of the^West Indies, and to Panama. He made very extensive collections 

 in many departments of natural history, especially in conchology, herpe- 

 tology and ichthyology. A very interesting collection in the two last men- 

 tioned ^livisions has been received from him, in return for an appropriation 

 of fifty dollars towards defraying his expenses. The scries contains many 

 highly interesting species, some of them new to science. 



Mr. Charles Girard, in May last, visited Charleston, and made various 

 zoological collections of much interest, aided by facilities furnished by Dr. 

 J. E. Holbrook, Dr. St. Julian Ravenel, ami others. This collection, al- 

 though not as extensive as might have"' been made at a more favorable 

 season of the year, is stiJl very important, not ordy on account of the known 

 vertebrata and invertebrata, but also for embracing some undescribed species 

 of fishes. 



During a visit to Cincinnati in May, I embraced the opportunity to make 

 a collection of the fishes of the Ohio river. In this I was fortunate to have 

 the assistance of Di'. J. P. Kirtland, (he enunent author of the "fishes of 

 the Ohio river and its tiiltutaiies," who had there procured most of his 

 species. Nearly all he had ever found in this locality, with few exceptions, 

 were again obtained and identified by him. In August, again, I explored 

 the tributaries of the Hudson below Albany, and subsequently Otsego lake, 

 in each case richly rewarded by the result, and especially by learning of 

 the existence in the latter lake of a Lota, the usual hydrographical associate 

 of the Coregonus, or white fish. 



'S. REPORTS ON" EXPLORATIONS. 



To the Smithsonian Institution : 



In the report presented to you by Dr. Joseph Leidy, upon the fossil 

 remains submittetl to him for examination, you will find a short statement 

 of the character of these fossil vertebrata. The scientific interest attaching 

 to these specimens is very great, as showing for the first time the existence 

 iir this country of an extensive eocene deposit, rivalling in the variety of its 

 species of extinct animals the c(debrated beds of the Paris basin. The dis- 

 covery of an entirely new family of mammalia, embracing eight new genera, 

 is one result of the examinations by Dr. Leidy. It will be remeud)ered 

 that these specimens were collected by Thaddeus Culbertson, Esq., in the 

 summer of 1850. Since then an additional collection has been presented 

 by Captain Stewart Van Vliet of the army, and several specimens kiiuUy 

 loaned by Dr. H. A. Proul, of St. Louis, all from the same locality. Some 

 of the same genera and species, with a few not hitherto received by the 

 Smithsonian Institution, were collected by Dr. Evans under the direction of 

 Dr. David D. Owen, and will soon be published l)y the latter gentleman in 

 his account of the geology of the northwest. 



It is much to be desired that government may fit out an expedition for 

 the complete exploration of this I'egion, so interesting to the geologist and 

 naturalist. Without some such aid it will be impossible to hope for a full 

 development of these treasures for years to come. Besides the vertebrate 



