100 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1283 



world, to the welfare of the community and to 

 the dignity and honor of the nation. 



Graham Lusk 

 Cornell Medical College, 

 New York City 



THE IRWIN EXPEDITION! 



The Irwin Expedition of Indiana Univer- 

 sity organized in cooperation with the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois which started in June, 

 1918, to study the fresh-water fishes of Peru 

 and Chile and of the Titicaca basin, has re- 

 turned, bringing very large collections. Miss 

 Adele Eigenmann, a medical student in In- 

 diana University, returned in January, Mr. 

 W. R. Allen traveling fellow of the Univer- 

 sity of Illinois, returned in April, and I re- 

 turned the first of June. 



Aside from the institutions mentioned the 

 expedition had the cooperation of the Amer- 

 ican Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence, and the Bache Eund of the ISTational 

 Academy of Sciences. 



Five weeks were lost in New Orleans wait- 

 ing for passports. This delay made it in- 

 advisable to attempt to cross the Andes at 

 Cajamarca as planned and the expedition 

 went directly to Callao. From Callao we 

 went together over the Central Railway of 

 Peru to Oroya. Erom Oroya Mr. Allen went 

 to Lake Junin and down the valley of the 

 Huallaga. Miss Eigenmann and myself first 

 went south as far as Huancayo, later east to 

 La Merced, at an elevation of 2,500 feet, then 

 north to Cerro de Pasco and Gollalarsquisca, 

 then to Casapalca, from where we examined 

 various lakes, reaching an elevation of 15,900 

 feet. We then returned to the coast, went 

 south by steamer to Mollendo, and by the 

 Southern Railway over the crest of the Andes 

 at Crucero Alto (nearly 14,000 feet) and north 

 to Cuzco. Collections were made at Cuzco, 

 in Lakes Lucre, Ureos, and Langilaio, Chin- 

 chero and Huaipo, and in the Urubamba, from 

 its soiirce at La Raya (13,370 feet) to Santa 

 Ana, in the tropics at an elevation of 2,500 

 feet. We visited La Paz to secure concessions 



1 Mr. "Will G. Irwin, of Columbus, Ind., made the 

 expedition possible. See Science, August 2, 1918. 



for Mr. Allen in Bolivia, and then we re- 

 turned to Lima, at the end of 1918. Early in 

 January we went by steamer north to Paita, 

 from where Miss Adele returned home. I 

 went inland from Paita to Piura, south to 

 Pacasmayo and inland from Pacasmayo to 

 Llallan. I returned to Lima at the end of 

 January. 



Mr. Allen, after some delay from fevers 

 and other causes, returned from the Huallaga 

 early in Wovember to Lima, and then went 

 direct to Lake Titicaca. He spent the time 

 from December to May about Lake Titicaca. 

 He went entirely around the lake, in part by 

 rail, in part by boat, and in part afoot, col- 

 lecting in many of the tributaries. He de- 

 voted particular attention to securing a set of 

 the parasites of the fishes of Titicaca for the 

 University of Illinois. It is hoped that the 

 parasites will give some indication of the 

 origin of the peculiar fishes so abundant in 

 the high Andean lakes. 



In February I went south to Chile, and 

 collected in some of the rivers between Puerto 

 Montt and the Rio Copiapo, which is the last 

 of the rivers south of the Desert of Atacama. 

 I also crossed from Puerto Varas, on Lake 

 Llanquihue, to Lake Nahuel-Huapi, in the 

 Argentine, collecting on the way in Lake 

 Todos Santos and in Laguna Eria. 



Large quantities of material were collected, 

 and it will take many months to make a com- 

 plete report. It is interesting to state that 

 we secured four distinct faunas. The fish 

 famia of the region about Puerto Montt is 

 highly tinctured with species Jaelonging to 

 families that are also found in Australia, 

 These begin to decrease north of Valdivia. 

 At Conception, aside from the lampreys, only 

 one Australian type was found. The fauna 

 about Santiago is quite different from that 

 about Puerto Montt, and north of Santiago 

 this fauna gradually dwindles. In the last 

 river south of the desert, at Copiapo, only 

 introduced gold fishes were foimd. It is prob- 

 able that pejereyes and other fishes of marine 

 origin are to be found about the mouth of this 

 river. About Copiapo it rarely rains, but at 

 Puerto Montt and Valdivia in the south the 



