INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



PAPERS ON NATURAL HISTORY 



With reference to the following papers upon the respective hranches of Natural History of 

 which they particularly treat, it should he home in mind lhat, in the equipment of the Japan 

 Expedition, scientific researches were to be considered of secondary importance, and consequently 

 no special appropriations were made or any steps taken at the outset to employ civilians, as in 

 other expeditions, for purposes purely scientific. 



I fully believed, and so expressed myself to the government, that the officers of the several 

 vessels of the squadron would be sufficiently competent, if their acquirements were properly 

 developed, to accomplish all in the way of science that could reasonably be expected of an 

 expedition intended exclusively for naval and diplomatic service ; and though but few of those 

 officers took an active part in pursuits not immediately pertaining to their legitimate routine of 

 duties, there were some who rendered important assistance in obtaining the collections now 

 described. 



Mr. William Heine contributed chiefly to the procurement of the birds. The collections of 

 fishes and shells were made under my own supervision, and the botanical specimens were 

 gathered and preserved by the chief interpreter, Mr. S. Wells Williams, and by Doctois Green, 

 Fahs, and Morrow. 



But it is a source of extreme regret to me that these plants, which possess considerable interest 

 as coming mostly from Japan and Lew Chew, have not been described and published in this 

 report, as I had intended they should have been. By some mistake they fell into the hands of 

 a distinguished botanist of this country, who, for reasons never satisfactorily explained ~to me, 

 failed to describe them, as he had promised to do, and by the consequent delay prevented my 

 seeking other means of having the desired description and drawings prepared for the press. 



The acts of Congress calling for my report in detail make no provision for the indispensable 

 cost of preparing for publication the original manuscript of so voluminous a work, and hence I 

 have labored under many disadvantages in the procurement of suitable aid in the preparation 

 and arrangement of the papers on Natural History. 



The birds have been described by that well known naturalist, Mr. John Cassin, of Philadelphia ; 

 and for the classification and description of the fishes and shells, I am entirely indebted to the 

 gratuitous servics of my personal friends, Messrs J. Carson Brevoort and J. C. Jay, of New 

 York, each distinguished for their attainments in the departments of science in which they 

 have respectively labored in friendly regard to me. 



In order to avoid unnecessary expense to the government, none of the varieties of birds, fishes, 

 or shells, in the collections of the expedition, have been engraved for publication that have ever, 

 so far as we know, been heretofore accurately figured and described in preceding works. 



M. C. PERRY. 



