The Smithsonian Institution 



is this a matter for wonderment. The collections made by the 

 exploring parties of the government in the twenty-five or 

 thirty years following the founding of the Institution contained 

 a great number of highly interesting forms of animals and 

 plants previously unknown to science, and the naturalists in 

 whose hands the various series were placed constantly en- 

 joyed the delight of discovering these and making them 

 known to the world. The boundaries of American natural 

 history were widened in every direction. As regards verte- 

 brates, Professor Baird remarked as early as 1856: 



"Messrs. Audubon and Bachman describe about 150 North 

 American species of mammals. This Institution possesses 

 about 130 of these; and about 50 additional species have 

 already been detected, although the examination of the entire 

 collection has not yet been completed. 



"Of North American birds, the Institution possesses nearly 

 all described by Audubon, and at least 1 50 additional species. 



"Of reptiles, the North American species in the Museum of 

 the Smithsonian Institution amount to between 350 and 400. 

 Of the 150 species described in Holbrook's ' North American 

 Herpetology,' the latest authority on the subject, it possesses 

 every genuine species, with one or two exceptions, and at 

 least 200 additional ones. It has about 130 species of North 

 American serpents for the 49 described by Holbrook. 



" Of the number of species of North American fishes it is 

 impossible to form even an approximate estimate, the increase 

 having been so great. It will not, however, be too much to 

 say that the Institution has between four and five hundred 

 species either entirely new or else described first from its 

 shelves." l 



The scientific elaboration of the collections resulted in the 

 publication of a great number of monographs and preliminary 

 papers in the "Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge" and 



1 " Smithsonian Report," 1856, page 60. 



