580 REPORT—1863. 
actions’ of English learned societies; and (3.) The ‘ Miscellaneous Collec- 
tions,’ in 8vo, answering to the ‘ Proceedings’ of the societies :— 
(1.) The series of ten 4to volumes, called ‘ Pacific Railroad Reports,’ con- 
tains a complete résumé of the natural history of the western slope of North 
America. The Recent and Tertiary Fossil Mollusca will be analyzed in the 
following pages. Accounts have also been published of the natural history 
of other expeditions.—The annual volumes of ‘ Reports of the Regents of the 
Smithsonian Institution,’ published by the U. 8S. Government, contain exact 
accounts of the assistance rendered to the expeditions by the Smiths. Inst., 
as well as lectures and articles on special subjects. In these will be found 
full particulars of the principles which regulate the natural-history workings 
of the Institution*. 
(2.) The only paper bearing on our present inquiry as yet published in 
the ‘ Contributions ’ is on the “‘ Invertebrata of the Grand Manan,” by Dr. W. 
Stimpson, which should be consulted by all 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 will be found “ Directions ” for collecting specimens 
of natural history, with special instructions concerning the desiderata on the 
Pacific coasts. These have been widely distributed among the various go- 
vernment officials, the employés 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-history labours. “ Check 
Lists” have been published “of the Shells of North America, by I. Lea, 
P. P. Carpenter, W. Stimpson, W. G. Binney, and T. Prime,” June 1860. No. 
1 contains the Marine Shells of the “‘ Oregonian and Californian Province,” 
and No. 2 of the “‘ Mexican and Panamic Province.” They are chiefly com- 
piled from the first British Association Report, with such elimination of sy- 
nonyms and doubtful species, 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 information 
that no. 1 is already out of date.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 of “ Fluviatile Gasteropoda,” also by W. G. Binney, “< the letter W 
distinguishes those confined to the Pacific coast, WE is affixed to those 
found in both sections of the continent, and M designates the Mexican 
species. From the starting-point of this list considerable progress has 
already been made. 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 list of “‘ Unionide,” 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 
useful 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 1859, 
pp. 195-219, contains in a popular form much of the information distributed through the 
Brit. Mus. Maz. Cat. 
