JOURNAL 
OF 
The New York Botanical Garden 
VoL. XI December, 1911. No. 144. 
EXPLORATION IN LOWER CALIFORNIA. 
Dr. N. L. Brirron, DirEcToR-IN-CHIEF, 
Sir: On February 10, 1911, I left Washington to embark upon 
the U. S. Steamer ‘‘ Albatross’’ which was about to start for a 
scientific cruise along the coast of Lower California. The ex- 
pedition was organized by Dr. C. H. Townsend, then acting 
director of the American Museum of Natural History, and I 
had been invited to accompany him and collect plants for the 
New York Botanical Garden and for the U.S. National Museum. 
The ‘‘Albatross,"’ a ship belonging to the Bureau of Fisheries, 
is splendidly suited for exploration work with its laboratory, 
library, and all kinds of equipment, but is especially fitted out 
and y 
work, while Lieut. B. G. Barthalow, a capable navigator and 
accommodating executive officer, was second in command 
These two with other officers and men and our eight naturalists 
and collectors made up a party of eighty. 
The program of the trip as planned and carried out was to 
go down the west coast of Lower California and then into the 
Gulf of California about two thirds its length, visiting as many 
places on the mainland and islands as time would permit. 
On February 28, we steamed out of San Diego harbor for 
Guadalupe Island. This island is well known to botanists, 
having been visited by Dr. Edward Palmer in 1875, at which time 
he collected many new species. I had expected to re-collect 
many of these species, but my visit was somewhat disappointing. 
