Exploration IVork of the histitution 469 



direction, and especially during the prosecution of the geo- 

 graphical and geological survey of the Territories, now 

 [1876] in progress, under the auspices of the Department of 

 the Interior."^ 



In the prefatory note by Doctor Hayden in Doctor Elliott 

 Coues's work on " Fur-bearing Animals," which was pub- 

 lished by the United States Geological Survey of the Terri- 

 tories in 1877, we read : 



" The Memoir is based upon specimens secured by the 

 Survey under my direction, together with all the material 

 contained in the National Museum, for the opportunity of ex- 

 amining which the Survey acknowledges, in this as in other 

 instances, its indebtedness to the Smithsonian Institution."^ 



The interest which the Institution has had in the explora- 

 tions of the United States Fish Commission has been of a 

 special character, due to the fact that the first Commissioner, 

 Professor Baird, was an Assistant Secretary of the Institu- 

 tion, and afterward its Secretary. 



He served without compensation, and his status was, there- 

 fore, that of an officer of the Institution engaged in impor- 

 tant scientific explorations and investigations for the benefit 

 of the government and the people. On this point Professor 

 Henry remarked in 1877: 



" It will be seen from the report of Professor Baird that a 

 large amount of his time has been expended in labor for the 

 general government, in relation to American fisheries. 



"Almost from the first organization of the Institution until 

 the present time the officers of the Institution have rendered 



1 Volume XI, page 267, Washington, 1877. dae." United States Geological Survey of 



2 Coues, Elliott, "Fur-bearing Animals: the Territories, Miscellaneous Publications, 

 A Monograph of North American Musteli- No. 8, page 4, Washington, 1S77. 



