Zoology 7 1 3 



tion. Chief of such expeditions were the " Explorations and 

 Survey of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah " (1852), 

 by Captain Stansbury; the "Expedition down the Zuni and 

 Colorado Rivers " ( 1 85 1 ), under Captain Sitgreaves ; the ' ' Ex- 

 ploration of the Red River of Louisiana" (1852), by Captains 

 Marcy and McClellan ; and the " United States and Mexico 

 Boundary Survey" (i857-'59), superintended by Major 

 Emory. The collections made by the peripatetic naturalists 

 were deposited in the museum of the Institution, and the 

 vertebrates and some of the invertebrates were reported upon 

 by Baird, Girard, and others. 



But by far the most important of the collections and the 

 reports were the results of surveys for a Pacific railroad long 

 desired and at length undertaken. 



In March, 1853, provision was made by Congress for "ex- 

 plorations and surveys to ascertain the most practicable and 

 economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to 

 the Pacific Ocean," to be made under the direction of the 

 Secretary of War. Under this Act, in 1853 and 1854 several 

 parties, commanded by officers of the corps of topographical 

 engineers of the United States army, were sent out to ex- 

 amine different routes suggested or proposed for a railroad. 

 Through the influence of the Institution, naturalists or col- 

 lectors were attached to the various parties, and the collec- 

 tions made by them of the vertebrates at least were "worked 

 up" soon after their reception by the Institution. 



The collections were mostly studied within the walls of the 

 Smithsonian building; and the reports were published at 

 length in the great official work (extending to thirteen large 

 quarto volumes) devoted to the details of all the operations 

 connected with the surveys. But these detached reports had 

 been to some extent anticipated by preliminary accounts of 

 the results given to the world in many articles contributed 

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