47 



tillable soil, inexhaustible water supply, and a climate seem- 

 ingly devised especially for intensive agriculture, offer potential 

 opportunities the like of which perhaps do not exist elsewhere. 



Biologically speaking, the Pattie Basin, lying wholly within 

 the Mexican State of Baja California, is of particular impor- 

 tance because of its isolation, and because of the even slopes 

 by which it ascends the enclosing mountain sides and the 

 consequent wide range in the character of its xerophilous 

 vegetation, which seems in general to be far more luxuriant 

 than that of the Salton Basin. Here, too, owing to the 

 absence of man, there exists a primeval desert fauna, of which 

 only the pronghorn antelopes, mule-deer, and mountain sheep 

 have been appreciably reduced in numbers by the incursions 

 of big game hunters. It was into this interesting country 

 that I went, in March, 1915, for the principal purpose of 

 obtaining specimens of antelopes and other desert -living crea- 

 tures that were desired for use in the Brooklyn Museum's 

 exhibit of desert life. 



During the course of a month, I made two trips across 

 the border, the first taking me to the far side of the Pattie 

 Basin, the second only to Volcano Lake and the meandering 

 track of the upper Hardy River. On the first and longer 

 trip my companion was Mr. Robert H. Rockwell, chief 

 taxidermist in the Museum. The second trip was made with 

 my wife, Grace E. Barstow Murphy. 



Pkevious Investigations. 

 The natural resources, including the geology, botany, and 

 zoology, of the country about the Salton Sea have been rather 

 thoroughly investigated. So much can not be said of the 

 Colorado Delta or of Pattie Basin, although several scientific 

 expeditions have passed through the territory in the interests 

 of the Desert Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution, the 

 United States Biological Survey, and other organizations. 

 The late Dr. Mearns, while a member of the International 

 Boundary Commission, crossed the desert in March and April, 

 1894, and collected mammals at eleven stations south of this 

 section of the Mexican line, one of the localities being at the 



