REPORT OF THE SECRETARY, 39 



tions pertaining to the operations of the general government. For 

 these services no compensation has been asked or received. 



It is believed that the Institution, through its Secretary and other 

 officers, has been the instrument of important services to the govern- 

 ment, which have repaid in some degree the fostering care which the 

 latter has bestowed on the former. 



Explorations. — For the purpose of obtaining a large number of 

 duplicate specimens of the Zoology, Botany, and Mineralogy of North 

 America, the Institution has not only furnished instructions and ren- 

 dered assistance, in the way of making collections, to the various 

 government expeditions undertaken during the last twelve years, 

 but it has also engaged the services of persons of the requisite 

 acquirements to make independent explorations. An account of 

 these explorations has been given in the several reports for previ- 

 ous years, and it is therefore only necessary to mention at this time 

 those which have been completed during the past year, or are still 

 in progress. 



The exploration in Lower California, near Cape St. Lucas, the 

 southern extremity of the peninsula, by Mr. John Xantus, has been 

 completed. The labors expended in this field have been truly re- 

 markable. According to the statement of Professor Baird, Mr. Xan- 

 tus has sent to the Institution sixty large boxes filled with specimens 

 illustrating almost every branch of natural history. His explorations 

 were not confined to the southern extremity of the peninsula, but ex- 

 tended many leagues up the coast on both the ocean and gulf sides. 

 He also visited Mazatlan, on the Mexican coast, and made a valuable 

 collection of birds. The specimens which he collected contain a 

 large number of species never before described. These have been 

 submitted for study and examination to some of the principal natu- 

 ralists in this country and Europe. In closing the accounts of the 

 explorations in Lower California it is necessary to acknowledge the 

 services rendered to the natural history of this country by the Coast 

 Survey, under the direction of Professor Bache, in affording Mr. 

 Xantus, while discharging the duty of tidal observer, the opportu- 

 nity of making these valuable collections at points which would other- 

 wise be almost inaccessible to the naturalist. 



The explorations by Mr. Robert Kennicott, in the northwestern 

 part of this continent, are still going on, the Hudson's Bay Company 

 having extended the time and afforded additional means for the prose- 

 cution of the work. From the latest advices from Mr. Kennicott, 



