THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 15 



provided these can be tried with the apparatus of the Institution, and 

 the results which may flow from them are to be given to the public 

 without the restriction of a patent, the request is granted. 



Explorations, Researches, &c. — (1.) About the beginning of the 

 year 1853, Lieutenant D. N. Couch, U. S. A., communicated to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution a proposition to make at his own expense a scientific 

 exploration in the States of Mexico, adjoining the lower Rio Grande. 

 After this proposition was duly considered, and the details of the plan 

 arranged, it was commended by me in a letter to the Secretary of 

 War, and a request made that Lieutenant Couch might have leave of 

 absence for the purpose of carrying out his design. The request was 

 granted, and this young officer soon after embarked on his expedition. 

 He was furnished with instructions and apparatus by the Institution, 

 and his attention was especially directed to the existence in Mexico of 

 a valuable collection of manuscripts and specimens in natural history, 

 of which information had been communicated to us. He was requested 

 to examine and report as to its character. He found the manuscripts 

 to contain a large amount of historical and geographical information, 

 chiefly pertaining to the States of the old republic which lay between 

 the Sabine and Sierra Madre, and a series of maps and results of to- 

 pographical and meteorological observations. The collections in natu- 

 ral history consisted of specimens in botany, zoology, mineralogy, &c. 



These collections were made by Luis Berlandier, a native of Swit- 

 zerland, and a member of the Academy of Geneva. He came to 

 Mexico in 1826, for the purpose of making a scientific examination of 

 that country. Soon after his arrival he was appointed one of the 

 Boundary Commission organized by the then new republic, with the 

 object of defining the boundaries, extent, resources, &c, &c, of the 

 northern or frontier States. This position gave him unusual facilities 

 for observation and investigation relative to the character of the coun- 

 try, and for making collections of its natural history. He, however, 

 never returned to his native country, but married and settled in 

 Mexico, and continued his researches until the period of his death in 

 1851. Lieutenant Couch purchased the whole collection from the 

 widow of the deceased, and transmitted it immediately to the Institu- 

 tion, which bore the expense of transportation. It contains matter 

 which would be valuable to the general government, and which it is 

 hoped will be purchased, and a sufficient sum paid to reimburse the 

 cost of procuring it. In the appendix will be found a catalogue of the 

 manuscripts. 



Lieutenant Couch himself collected a large number of specimens in 

 natural history, which were presented to the Institution, and have al- 

 ready been examined and described. Among the specimens of mine- 

 ralogy is a remarkable meteorite, weighing upwards of 250 pounds, 

 portions of which have been analyzed by Professor J. Lawrence Smith, 

 in our laboratory, and by Dr. Genth, in Philadelphia. 



The scientific explorations in natural history, made under the aus- 

 pices of the Smithsonian Institution during 1854, were those of Dr. Hoy, 

 Mr. Barry, and Professor Baird. That of Dr. Hay was made in west- 

 ern Missouri and Kansas, and occupied about a month ; during which 

 he gathered together large collections of North American vertebrata, 



