10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



proposed United States Exploring Expedition, as well as sug- 

 gestions as to the personnel of a scientific corps. The matter 

 was referred to a committee, the results of whose deliberations 

 are not clear, but, whether through their recommendation or 

 not, Titian R. Peale was eventually selected as one of the natur- 

 alists of the expedition, his field covering ornithology and 

 mammalogy. 



He had, since his return from South America, become director 

 of the Philadelphia Museum and had published the first part of 

 a work on American butterflies which was never completed. 

 He had also prepared a number of plates for various scientific 

 works, and his reputation both as a naturalist and draughtsman 

 had evidently increased. 



The exploring expedition, under Captain Charles Wilkes was 

 gone about four years. The vessels left Norfolk, Virginia, 

 August 18, 1838 going in turn to Madeira, Brazil, Chili, the 

 South Sea Islands, New Zealand, the Sandwich Islands, the 

 west coast of North America, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore 

 and Cape of Good Hope, and returning to New York in June 

 1842. A river in one of the Fiji Islands was named after Peale, 

 who had been zealous in collecting material and making sketches. 

 His vessel the Peacock was wrecked at the mouth of the Colum- 

 bia River, May 18, 1840 and he with others of the crew traveled 

 overland to San Francisco, through the then Mexican province 

 of California, to join another of the fleet, the Vincennes. The 

 collection of Hawaiian birds and much other invaluable ma- 

 terial was lost in the wreck. 



Peale wrote the report on the birds and mammals of the 

 expedition which was issued in 1848, but without the atlas of 

 plates which he had prepared. This was his only ornithological 

 work, indeed almost his only scientific contribution, which 

 seems remarkable, when we consider the opportunities that he 

 had and the really great part that he played in advancing our 

 knowledge of American ornithology. 



This report of Peale' s is one of the rarest of books and its 

 history is involved in obscurity. It has been claimed that he 

 was not afforded opportunities to properly study and compare 

 his specimens ; but it would seem that at that time neither 



