EXPLORATIONS IN THE CAPE REGION OF BAJA 

 CALIFORNIA IN 1894, WITH REFERENCES TO 

 FORMER EXPEDITIONS OF THE CALIFORNIA 

 ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



BY GUSTAV EISEN. 



[With Plates Ixxii— Ixxv.] 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Until quite recently the peninsula of Baja California, 

 Mexico, and especially its Cape Region, has been to 

 natural science in general a terra incognita. This refers 

 especially to all lower forms of animal life, although in 

 the higher classes very little work had been done, and 

 none that could be in any way called exhaustive. Of 

 some groups a few species had been collected and de- 

 scribed, but the real scientific points regarding the con- 

 nections of its fauna and flora with those of other regions 

 in the immediate vicinity were almost entirely unknown. 



There remained then and remains yet an immense 

 amount of facts to be recorded, collections to be made of 

 groups of animals and plants, of the nature of which 

 science had no knowledge. The zoological features of 

 Baja California, and the very many and great questions 

 of general interest connected with them remains yet to 

 be established. 



In a thorough exploration of this so unknown field the 

 California Academy of Sciences is the pioneer. The 

 many and various papers by specialists upon the zoology 

 of the Cape Region of Baja California, which now ap- 

 pear and soon will appear in the Proceedings and Mem- 

 oirs of this Academy are evidences that these statements 

 are no mere words. Through this work now being done 

 by the Academy, the latter is gaining a most enviable re- 

 putation among the scientific bodies of this country, and 

 is establishing itself on a footing equal with the best. 



2d See., Vol. V. October 30, 1895. 



