16 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. [Jan. 



" Ibicuhy." Nor was this all ; canoes and men were provided 

 for me whenever I required them, and wherever I arrived, I 

 found that directions had been given to the local authorities to 

 furnish me with whatever I required for my scientific objects. 

 This generosity was the more striking, since it was offered at a 

 time when, on account of the war, the government required 

 all its resources. With such facilities, it is not strange that we 

 should have made larger collections than have ever been got 

 together in the same time before. I cannot close without 

 expressing my gratitude for the liberality of our own country- 

 men towards the Expedition. From the moment when the Pa- 

 cific Mail Steam-ship Company offered us, through the courtesy 

 of their President, Mr. Allen McLane, the hospitality of their 

 magnificent ship, the Colorado, to the moment when, at the 

 invitation of Mr. Garrison, we returned as guests on board the 

 vessels of the Brazilian North American Steamship Company, 

 we received the most cordial and ready aid from American 

 merchants at the different ports, in forwarding our large col- 

 lections. Especially am I indebted to Mr. James Bond, our 

 consul at Para, and agent for the house of James Bishop & 

 Company, to Messrs. Hitch and Rollins, of the house of Henry 

 Foster & Company at Pernambuco, and also to Messrs. Wells, 

 Fargo & Company, in New York. 



With all these accumulated treasures safely under our roof, 

 my first duty is to make every possible exertion for their pres- 

 ervation, till we shall have the means to work them up, to 

 classify them systematically, and to render them equally acces- 

 sible for special scientific investigation, and for the gratification 

 and improvement of the casual visitors who daily come to the 

 Museum. Such a final arrangement must necessarily be the 

 work of time, and demands large expenditure, for which there 

 is as yet no provision. To give room merely for the exhibition 

 of the collections now stored in our working rooms, attics and 

 cellars, (or for such partial exposition of them as would fairly 

 illustrate their scientific value and significance,) we should be 

 obliged to complete the northern wing of the Museum, of which 

 the present building represents only two-fifths. This can 

 hardly be done under one hundred thousand dollars, and it is, 

 after all, but a small part of the work. The identification of 

 specimens, their division and proper distribution, in short the 



