THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 43 



operation, and got back to San Antonio in one year, after running a 

 boundary line of seven hundred miles in length. Operations were 

 commenced simultaneously at both extremities of the line, Major 

 Emory himself taking charge of the eastern end, and intrusting the 

 western to Lieutenant Michler. 



As in all previous surveys of the Mexican ])oundary line, much at- 

 tention was jiaid to the collection of facts and specimens illustrating 

 the Natural History of the region traversed, and very full series of the 

 animals, plants, minerals, and fossils, were secured % the gentlemen 

 specially charged with this duty — namely, Dr. C. B. Kennerly, sur- 

 geon of the expedition ; Captain E. K. Smith, commander of the 

 escort ; and Arthur Schott, esq., assistant to Lieutenant Michler. 



The collections thus made, at the close of the field labors of the 

 Boundary Survey, were in no respect inferior to the preceding ones, 

 and formed an appropriate winding up of the natural-history opera- 

 tions of a great work. The pioneer of all those government explora- 

 tions which have yielded such important fruits to natural science, 

 traversino; hundreds of miles previously unvisited by the naturalist, 

 and ])rovided with a scientific outfit devised expressly for it, and well- 

 tested previously to its adoption by other parties, the Mexican Bound- 

 ary Survey has imperishably identified itself with the history of the 

 progress of science in the collecting of perhaps a larger number of 

 new species of North American animals and plants than any one 

 party ever gathered before, or will again. 



h. — REGIONS WEST OF THE MISSOURI. 



Exploration of northern route for Pacific railroad, under Governor 

 I. I. Stevens. — The rich results of explorations along this line have 

 already been adverted to. The naturalists of the expedition — Dr. 

 George Suckley and Dr. J. G. Cooper — after the expiration of their 

 connection with the survey in 1854, continued making collections of 

 facts and specimens at their own expense, and added much to their 

 previous acquisitions. The numerous specimens gathered by Dr. 

 Cooper, principally at Shoalwater bay and near San Francisco, have 

 not yet been all received : those of Dr. Suckley, made at the Dalles, 

 Fort Steilacoom, and in various portions of Oregon, have arrived, and 

 are of the first importance. They are especially rich in mammalia, 

 and will again be referred to. 



Exploration of California hy Lieut. Williamson. — Lieut. William- 

 son, after completing the report of his survey of 1853, was sent out 

 again in May last to examine the region along the Cascade range of 

 mountains in California and Oregon, for the purpose of discovering, 

 if possible, a j)racticable pass through these rugged mountains. His 

 labors were completed in November, and in December Dr. J. S. New- 

 berry, geologist and naturalist of the party, arrived in Washington 

 with the rich fruits of his labors, consisting of full collections in all 

 departments of natural history. In mammals this collection is espe- 

 cially ample, containing among others many of the larger species, as 

 bears, deer, &c., not previously secured by any expedition. Facts of 



