INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



The North Pacific Exploring Expedition was sent out by the 

 Navy Department under an appropriation from Congress in 1852, 

 for "building or purchase of suitable vessels, and for prosecuting a 

 survey and reconnaissance, for naval and commercial purposes, of 

 such parts of Behring Straits, of the North Pacific Ocean, and the 

 China seas, as are frequented by American whale-ships, and by 

 trading vessels in their routes between the United States and China." 

 The expedition set sail in June, 1853, and returned in 1856. Captain 

 C. Ringgold, U. S. N., was placed in command, but, being recalled 

 to the United States in 1854, he w^as superseded by Captain John 

 Rodgers, U. S. N. William Stimpson acted as zoologist. After 

 leaving Norfolk the five vessels in service touched at Madeira, and 

 then proceeded to Hongkong via the Cape of Good Hope. On this 

 passage the sloop "Vincennes"" and the brig "Porpoise" took the 

 more southerl}' route to Van Diemens Land, thence through the 

 Coral Seas, and by the Caroline, Uadrone, and Bashee Islands, while 

 the steamer "John Hancock" and the other two vessels of the fleet 

 traversed the straits of Sunda and Caspar, the Carimata and Billeton 

 passages, and the Sooloo Sea. Subsequently the expedition ad- 

 vanced northward, continuing work along the coasts of Japan and 

 Kamchatka, in Bering Strait, on the coast of California, and at 

 Tahiti, returning around the Cape^of Good HopeJ -';-<.- -^ 



Of the vast collections obtained, it was estimated that the Crus- 

 tacea numbered 980 species. 



A few years after his return to the United States, Dr. William 

 Stimpson became director of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, and 

 moved to that place nearly all of the invertebrate material obtained 

 by the expedition and belonging to the United States Government 

 Several preliminary papers had been ])repared and published by him 

 in tlie Proceedings of the Academ}- of Natural Sciences of Philadel- 

 phia, when the collections with notes and drawings were destroyed bv 

 the memorable fire, in 1871.'- In a statement of losses sustained,^ Dr 



' Prodromus descriptionis aninialiuin cvcrtcbratoruni, qua; in E.xpcditionc ad 

 Oceanum Pacificum Septentrionalem, a Republica Federata niissa, Cadwal- 

 adaro Ringgold et Johannc Rodgers Diicihus, observavit ct dcscripsit W 

 Stimpson. 



■ Tlic above account is condensed from "Descriptive Catalogue of the collec- 

 tion illustrating the scientific investigation of the sea and fresh waters," by 

 Richard Rathbun, published as Catalogue G of the Great International Fish- 

 cries E.xhibition. London. iSS^. Washington: Government Printing (Cilice, 1S8.? 



' .\ccording to Dr. Theodore Gill. 



