PRELIMINARY NOTICE. 



In December, 1872, the Navy Department sent an expedition under Com- 

 mander E. P. Lull, U. S. N., to Nicaragua to complete the surveys begun in the 

 spring of the same year for an inter-oceanic ship canal.* 



I accompanied the expedition as medical officer, with instructions to make 

 general scientific investigations in the natural history, &c., of the country. The 

 island of Ometepec was visited, and while hunting for antiquities I chanced to 

 see a ditch which had been recently dug, and in which burial urns were exposed 

 in situ. This was on a hacienda belonging to Don Jose Angel Luna, near Moyo- 

 galpa. 



In 1876 I was sent to Nicaragua on special duty connected with the survey, 

 and was instructed to make archaeological investigations on the island of Omete- 

 pec. I was in the country from January until the middle of May, more than 

 half the time exploring and excavating on the island, the principal portion of 

 the work being done at Luna's, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. 



Again, in February, 1877, I went down and remained until the first of July. 

 As before, most of the time was spent on the island, paying attention chiefly to 

 the neighborhood of Santa Helena and Chilaite, north of Moyogalpa. Then 

 some investigations were made on the mainland near San Jorge, followed by a 

 trip into Costa Rica, as far south as Nicoya. 



On both the later expeditions I had aid from the Smithsonian Institution, 

 including an outfit for collecting and preserving natural history specimens.f 



The material for this paper has been taken from the reports made to the 

 Navy Department in 1876 and 1877, and from the collections obtained and 

 deposited in the National Museum. 



J. F. BRANSFORD. 



U. S. S. RICHMOND, BOSTON, Dec. 20, 1878. 



* For valuable information concerning the country see the report published by the Navy Department, 1874, 

 on Surveys for a Ship Canal through Nicaragua. 



f For an account of a collection of fish from Lake Nicaragua see paper in Proceedings Academy Natural 

 Sciences, Philadelphia, July, 1877. 



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