42 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



ral history department of the expedition, which took place in May, 

 1866, at Nulato, on the lower Yukon. In this dispensation of Provi- 

 dence, scie'nce has lost an ardent and successful votary, and the Insti- 

 tution one of its most valued collaborators. It is to him that we owe 

 our introduction to the most important sources of information relative 

 to the fur countries, and it is principally through his exertions that 

 the museum of the city of Chicago, of which he was the director, 

 received its endov»^ment and organization. 



After the death of Mr. Kennicott, Mr. W. H. Dall succeeded him 

 as chief of the scientific corps, and has since been occupied in ex- 

 ploring the Yukon river from Fort Yukon to its mouth. He is still 

 engaged in this work, but will probably return in the autumn of 1868. 



To the co-operation of Col. Bulkley, the chief of the survey, and 

 of Messrs. Scammon, Kotchum, Fisher, Smith, and others mentioned 

 in the list of donors to the collections, much of the success of the oper- 

 ations relative to natural history is due. The collections themselves 

 were made principally by Messrs. Kennicott, Dall, Bischofif, Bannister, 

 and Elliott. Since the return of the surveying parties all the maps 

 and reports relating to the geographical part of the work have been 

 placed in possession of this Institution, with a view to their being 

 elaborated in the form of a memoir for publication. 



The explorations under the auspices of the telegraph company 

 were made partly in Nicaragua during the transit of the scientific 

 corps across the Isthmus, partly in the vicinity of San Francisco while 

 the expedition was in process of being organized, partly in Kam- 

 tschatka and in British Columbia, but chiefly in the island of Sitka 

 antl on Norton Sound and the Yukon river. 



The collections from the Yukon and Norton Sound region, as well 

 as those from both sides of Behring^s Straits, are very extensive and 

 valuable. Among the results most interesting to the naluralist is 

 the discovery at Norton Sound and at Nulato of three genera of birds* 

 previously supposed peculiar to the Old World. 



The collections of the telegraph expedition at Sitka were made 

 by Mr. Ferdinand Bischoff, during a stay of about fourteen months, 

 and are of great extent and value. Desirous of having a collection of 

 specimens from Kamtschatka for comparison with those from the 

 shores of Russian America, the Institution, conjointly with the Chicago 

 Academy of Sciences, engaged the services of Mr. Bischoff for that 

 purpose, and furnished him with a complete outfit, while the Pacific 

 Mail Steamship Company, in its usual spirit of liberality as regards 



* Species of Budytes, Phyllopneuste, and Pyrrbula. 



