A Biological Expedition to Southern 



Mexico 



BY D. L. CRAWFORD* 



Being 1 confronted again, in 1910, with a most unusual opportunity for 

 pushing scientific investigations in Mexico for the sake of science and the 

 economic well being of both countries, an effort was made to organize and 

 finance an expedition with a larger scope than that of 1909. Through the 

 interest of Prof. A. J. Cook, head of the department of Biology in the 

 College, a sufficiently large sum of money was secured from friends of this 

 work to send two men from here and to hire the services of a native helper. 

 With the assistance of Mr. C. E. Harwood of Upland, Cal., his son, Mr. 

 Paul Harwood, Dr. W. S. Cockrell and Dr. Pehr Olssen-Seffer, all of 

 Mexico City, passes were secured over the National Railways first and 

 later over the Vera Cruz and Isthmus Road, the Mexican Road and the 

 National Tehauntepec. We here take the opportunity to thank the above 

 mentioned gentlemen, and also the officials of the roads over which passes 

 were granted to us : Mr. C. R. Hudson, Vice President of the National 

 Railways ; Mr. Thos. Milan, President of the Vera Cruz and Isthmus ; Mr. 

 Newberry, President of the National Tehuantepec ; and the Manager of the 

 Mexican Road. 



Mr. A. S. Loveland, a student of the college, was chosen as my assistant. 

 A very good native helper was hired at Guadalajara, Jalisco. In addition 

 to these two assistants, guides in several places were used. 



The purpose of the expedition, as outlined by Prof. C. F. Baker, was 

 to make as extensive collections as possible of insects, economic seeds, both 

 of fruits and ornamental plants and trees, mosses and lichens, living plants, 

 especially palms, cacti, orchids, agaves and succulents of all sorts, etc. It 

 was first thought best to confine our collecting to about four localities south 

 of Mexico City, well separated topographically as well as geographically. 

 These plans were subsequently altered to include about seventeen localities rep- 

 resenting six states of Southern Mexico : Chiapas, Vera Cruz, Puebla, Oaxaca, 

 Morelos and San Luis Potosi. The reason for this change of plans was 

 the desirability of making this year's efforts something in the way of a thorough 

 reconnaissance of the southern half of Mexico, as a preparation for future 

 expeditions as well as for permanent work in the future. It is a great 

 advantage to know the typical localities over a large area of territory and 

 to know the country in a comparative way. For this reason the work was 

 necessarily somewhat hasty in most places, but by continually keeping on 

 the move the desired results were in a measure attained. 



On June 16th we entered Mexico through El Paso and proceeded directly 

 to Mexico City, where a few matters of business occupied our time for 

 some days. After the completion of this business we went to Cuernavaca, 



*Student assistant in Pomona College. 



