REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 59 



of regular scientific duty, abundantly verify this estimate of Mr. 

 Xantus's abilities. 



In addition to the thorough exploration of the region immediately 

 round Cape St. Lucas and the mountains in the vicinity, Mr. Xantus, 

 since his residence there, has pushed his examinations many leagues 

 up the coast, both on the ocean and gulf sides, and directly or indi- 

 rectly extended them to a number of the islands, as Socorro, Tres 

 Marias, &c. He also made a visit to Mazatlan during the past spring, 

 and secured a valuable collection of birds. 



The many new species collected by Mr. Xantus are in process of 

 elaboration and will shortly be published. Partial reports have 

 already been made on the birds by Mr. Xantus himself; on the rep- 

 tiles by Mr. Cope ; on the fishes by Mr. Gill ; on the insects by Dr. 

 Le Conte ; on the Crustacea and asteriadas by Mr. Stimpson ; on the 

 ophiuridce by Mr. Lyman ; on the myriapoda by Mr. Wood ; on the 

 bats by Dr. Allen ; on the plants by Dr. Gray, &c. The rich con- 

 chological materials are in the hands of Mr. P. P. Carpenter. It is 

 proposed when all these examinations are completed to combine them 

 in one general memoir, on the natural history of the cape, which will 

 then be as well or even better known than the extremity of the cor- 

 responding peninsula of Florida, equally included in the limits of the 

 North American fauna and flora. 



Exploration of the Hudson^ s Bay territory by Mr. Kennicott. — At the 

 date of the last advices from Mr. Kennicott, when the Smithsonian 

 Eeport for 1860 was presented, he was at Fort Resolution, on Slave 

 lake, where he had spent the preceding spring and summer, princi- 

 pally in collecting eggs of birds. He left Fort Resolution in August, 

 1860, and returned to Fort Simpson and proceeded immediately down 

 the Mackenzie to Peels river. From Peels river he crossed the 

 Rocky mountains to La Pierre's house, occupying four days in the 

 transit, and arriving September ISth; left the next day for Fort Yukon, 

 at the junction of Porcupine or Rat river and the Yukon or Pelly 

 river, in about latitude 65° and longitude 146°. Fort Yukon, the 

 terminus of his journey, was reached on the 28th of September, 1860. 



The latest advices now on file from Mr. Kennicott were written 

 January 2, 1861, up to which time he had made some interesting col- 

 lections; but these, of course, were limited by the season. He had 

 great expectations of success during the following spring, (of 1861,) 

 which have no doubt been abundantly realized. • 



No collections were received from Mr. Kennicott in 1861, with the 

 exception of a few specimens gathered in July and August, 1860, on 

 Slave lake. Those made at the Yukon will, however, in all proba- 

 bility come to hand in October or November of 1862. 



Mr. Kennicott expected to remain at the Yukon until August, 1861, 

 then to start for La Pierre House and Fort Good Hope, possibly to 

 Fort Simpson, to spend some months, and endeavor by early spring to 

 reach Fort Anderson, near the mouth of Anderson river, (a stream 

 between the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers,) and in the barren 

 grounds close to the Arctic ocean. At Fort Anderson he expected to 



