244 THE MOLLUSK FAUNA OF NORTHWEST AMERICA. 



scribing the shells of the coast. The work of Thomas Nuttall, the botanist, 

 extending over the years 1834 and 1835, resulted in a large collection of shells 

 as well as plants, and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia had 

 the privilege of publishing a paper by Conrad in 1837, in which a majority 

 of them were described and figured. This was the first American contribution 

 to the conchological history of that prolific coast. 



In the report of the voyage of La Perouse the first brachiopod of the region 

 is figured, and in similar publications by Hinds and Belcher many northwest 

 coast shells are described and beautifully illustrated. 



The first attempt to monograph the shells of the Russian portion of the 

 coast was by the celebrated explorer and scientist, von Middendorff, in 1847-51, 

 and his work still remains for the student of the fauna an indispensable classic. 

 Special collections by a preparator of the Imperial Academy, Elia Vossnessenski, 

 sent out for the purpose, aided in making it more nearly complete. About the 

 same time that conchological enthusiast, J. P. Couthouy, obtained a position on 

 the United States Exploring Expedition under Wilkes, with the special object 

 of utilizing to the utmost the opportunities for exploration which it afforded. 

 Couthouy was a man of progressive ideas and methods, with much artistic 

 ability. He planned to make the collection unique in the accuracy of its localities 

 and in the profusion of drawings made from the living animals of the species 

 collected. In each jar from hundreds of stations was placed a tag of tinfoil with 

 a number stamped upon it corresponding to the number in the notebook of the 

 collector. For four weary yet interesting years he toiled incessantly and sent 

 back to Washington the largest collection ever made by a single expedition up 

 to that time. As the boxes arrived in Washington they were sent to the Patent 

 Office where a retired clergyman had been appointed to take care of the collections 

 until the expedition returned. Observing that the presence of lead in the 

 tinfoil tags was whitening the spirits in some of the jars, this enlightened 

 custodian carefully went over them all and removed every tag, and with them all 

 hope of ever positively identifying the contents of the jars with locality or notes. 

 The tags were carefully preserved in an empty jar, where many years ago I saw 

 them, kept by Professor Baird as a horrible example of ignorance and incapacity. 



When Couthouy returned he found his work of years ruined, and wounded 

 beyond endurance, abandoned the enterprise. Years afterward, Dr. A. A. Gould 

 was prevailed upon to save what he could from the wreck, and this is recorded in 

 his report on the "Expedition shells." 



In 1848-50, Herr Reigen, a Belgian collector, resident at Mazatlan, Mexico, 

 made an enormous collection of the local shells, which, when packed, occupied, 

 according to Dr. Philip P. Carpenter, 460 cubic feet of space. This collection, 

 perhaps the largest ever made at one locality, on the collector's death m loo » 

 mostly came into the possession of a dealer in Liverpool, where, excluding 

 more bulky shells, it was acquired by Dr. Carpenter and formed the basis o 

 his well known Mazatlan Catalogue, printed 1855-57, and distributed by the 

 author with many duplicate collections. 



