/SO KrpoRT— 18G3. 



•etions' of English learned societies; and (3.) The '^isrennneons Collec* 

 tion«,' in Svo, answering to the ' ProceedingH ' ot" the sot ieties : — 



(1.) The series of ten 4to volumes, called ' Pa( itic Railroad Reports,' con- 

 tains a complete rentntie of the natural historj' of the western slope of North 

 America. The Recent and Tertiurj- Fos^il MoUusca will he analyzed in the 

 following pages. Accounts have also heen published of the natural history 

 of other expeditions.— The annual volumes of ' Reports of the Regents of the 

 Smithsonian Institution,' pvihlished hy the U. S. (Jovenmient, contain exact 

 accoimts of the assistance rendered to the expeditions hy the Smiths. Inst., 

 as well as lectures and articles on special sulijects. In these will he found 

 full particulars of the priuciples which regulate the natural-history workings 

 of the Institution*. 



{2.) The only paper hearing on our present inquiry as yet published in 

 the ' Contributions ' is on the " Invertcbrata jf the Grand Manan," hy Dr. W. 

 Stimpson, which should be consulted by ail who desire to institute a compa- 

 rison between the sub-boreal faunas on the two sides of the Atlantic. 



(3.) The 'Miscellaneous Collections' are all stereotyped, and very freely 

 circulated. Among them vriW be found " Directions "' for collecting specimens 

 of natural history-, with special instnictions concerning the desiderata on the 

 Pacific coasts. These have been widely distributed among the various go- 

 vernment officials, the emploi/e.s- of the U. S. Coast Survey, and the variously 

 ramified circulating media at the command of the Smiths. Inst. ; and have 

 already borne a fair share of important results, although the war has 

 greatly impeded the expected prosecution of natural -histoiy labours. " Check 

 Lists ■' have been published " of the Shells of North America, by I. Lea, 

 P. P. Carpenter. AY- Stimpson, W. G. Binney, and T. Prime." June lf<hO. No. 

 1 contains the Marine Shells of the " Oregonian and Cnlifornian ^ro^^IK•e,'* 

 and No. 2 of the " Mexican and Panaraic Pro\-ince." They arc chietly com- 

 piled from the first British Association Report, with such elimination of .sy- 

 nonyms and doubtful spemes, and addition of fresh materials, as had become 

 available up to the date of publication. They were not intended to be quoted 

 as authorities ; and so rapid has been the accumulation of fresh infornuition 

 that no. 1 is already out of date. In the *' Terrestrial Gasteropoda," by W. 

 G. Binney, list no. 1 contains the " species of the Pacific coast, from the ex- 

 treme north to Mazatlan," to which many additions have since been made. 

 In the list f " Fluviatile Gasteropoda," also by W. G. Binney, " the letter W 

 distingui>hes those confined to the Pacific coast, WE is affixed to those 

 found in both sections of the continent, and M designates the Mexican 

 sjtecics. From the starting-point of this list considerable progress has 

 already been mjide. In the brief list of " Cyclades, by Temple Prime," the 

 Mexican and Central American species are similarly designated ; but the 

 western species and those common to the Pacific and Atlantic United States 

 are not distinguished. In the Ust of " Unionida;," by Dr. I. Lea, whose life- 

 long devotion to the elucidation of that family is everywhere gratefully 

 acknowledged, the Pacific species are designated by a P. The large series 



• The ' Lectures on Mollusca,' in the Vol. for 1860, pp. 151-283, will perhaps be found 

 nsefiil as a digest of classical forms. It was to have been illustrated with copies of woodcuts, 

 kindly promised by Dr. Gray, and since placed at the disposal of the Smiths. Inst, by the 

 courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum ; but, unfortunately, the blocks were not 

 to be found at the time. They will appear, however, in forthcoming Smithsonian publi- 

 cations. The 'Lecture on the Shells of the Gulf of California,' in the Vol. for 1S.")9, 

 pp. 195-219, contains in a popular form much of the information distributed througli the 

 Brit. Mus. Mas:. Cat. 



66 



