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The Institution was signally honored f^ri th an invitation by the 
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President of the United States, the Honorable Franklin D. Roosevelt, to 
take part In his trip to the Cllpperton and the Galapagos Island^this past 
year aboard the U.S.S. HOUSTON. 
The erulse covered a total of 5S8S miles in the brief space of 2H 
days during which 14 different collecting stops were made. These were dis- 
tributed among the possessions of five different nations! Mexico (lower 
California and Socorro Island), France (Cllpperton Island), Ecuador (the 
Galapagos Islands), Costa Rica (Cocos Island), and Colombia (Old Providence 
Island in the Caribbean). So collecting was done in the Canal Zone or in 
the Republic of Panama, though both were visited. SJm 
Th© cruise began in San Diego, California, on July 16 (5! 30 p.m.) 
and ended at Pensacola, Florida, »,on August 9 (1:30 p."»). All manner of 
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collecting was undertaken, fishing, bird hunting and botanizing, dredging, 
tic" spool and shore collecting— indeed, all kinds of endeavor that might yield 
something of interest to the Smithsonian Institution and our National Collec- 
tions. Th© ichthyological collection, which perhaps took first place in the 
President's interest, is on© of the most important ever to have come to the 
National Museum from that section of the Pacific. 
In obtaining fish as scientific specimens, as well as for sport, 
the President was ably assisted by members of his personal party: Mr. 
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Stephen Early, Mr. Fred. Adams, Mr. Basil O'Connor, Commander Daniel J. 
Callaghan, U.S.N., Colonel Edwin M. Watson, U.S.A., and several of the 
officers of the HOUSTON. Other specimens were secured by the crew by hand 
lines over the ship's side or were picked up ashore. 
All in all, S3 different 
fish were caught by one means 
or another. Still other species were seen, but for want of specimens could 
not be identified, such as the large green pa 
