 | III. ZOÖLOGY1
1At the time of Lewis and Clark' s expedition, practically nothing was known of
the zoölogy of the United States west of the Mississippi river, consequently the opportunities
for valuable discoveries in this field by members of the party were exceptional.
Unfortunately there seems to have been no systematic zoölogist among those who made
up the expedition, and consequently no new species of animals were named in the
report.
The authors did, however, include in their narrative good descriptions of such of
the mammals and birds as especially attracted their attention, and subsequent naturalists
have established proper technical names upon these descriptions. The eccentric
Rafinesque evidently had their description in mind when he named the mule deer
(Odocoileus hemionus, Raf.); and George Ord, in his zoölogical appendix to Guthrie's
Geography, named the whistling swan (Olor columbianus, Ord) entirely from the description
of the bird given by Lewis and Clark.
Of more interest than their descriptions, however, are the actual specimens brought
back by the explorers. These were by no means numerous, and were all deposited
in the then famous repository for natural history curiosities, Peale's Museum, in Philadelphia.
They were mounted by Peale, and submitted to the famous ornithologist,
Alexander Wilson—who was then publishing his great work on North American
birds—in order that plates and descriptions of the novelties might appear therein.
Wilson found that three species (possibly all that they secured) were new to science,
and named them "Louisiana tanager," "Clark's crow" i. e., nutcracker], and
"Lewis's woodpecker"—or, as they stand today in our technical lists, Piranga
ludoviciana (Wilson); Nucifraga columbians (Wilson), and Melanerpes torquatus
(Wilson). The three will be found together on plate 20, vol. iii, of the American
Ornithology. With the decline and disintegration of Peale's Museum, the ornithological
specimens were scattered; but recently some of them appeared in Boston, and
found their way into the possession of Charles J. Maynard. Among them, Mr.
Maynard informs me, is a specimen of Lewis's woodpecker, without much doubt
the original specimen, and probably the only one of this historic collection that is
still extant.—Witmer Stone, conservator of the Ornithological Section of the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806
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[Codex P—marked on the outer cover, "W. Clark's Natural
History Notes, &c, Apr. 9, 1805–Feb. 17, 1806"—was
apparently written up by Clark at a much later period (the
handwriting corresponds to his later habit); it consists almost
entirely of extracts copied from the text of the journals—those
portions in the latter, relating to natural history and crossed
out with red lines. The only additional items are the
following:
April 13th, 1805, in describing the magpie's nest, Clark
adds in parentheses these words:" (and frequently found Near
and sometimes immediately under the nest of the bald eagle)."
Jan. 10th, 1806, after completing the description of beaver
bait, he adds: "The bate is put on the point of a stick and
stuck in the ground so as the bait will be over the trap which
is under the water Set for the beaver."—Ed.]
| III. ZOÖLOGY1
1At the time of Lewis and Clark' s expedition, practically nothing was known of
the zoölogy of the United States west of the Mississippi river, consequently the opportunities
for valuable discoveries in this field by members of the party were exceptional.
Unfortunately there seems to have been no systematic zoölogist among those who made
up the expedition, and consequently no new species of animals were named in the
report.
The authors did, however, include in their narrative good descriptions of such of
the mammals and birds as especially attracted their attention, and subsequent naturalists
have established proper technical names upon these descriptions. The eccentric
Rafinesque evidently had their description in mind when he named the mule deer
(Odocoileus hemionus, Raf.); and George Ord, in his zoölogical appendix to Guthrie's
Geography, named the whistling swan (Olor columbianus, Ord) entirely from the description
of the bird given by Lewis and Clark.
Of more interest than their descriptions, however, are the actual specimens brought
back by the explorers. These were by no means numerous, and were all deposited
in the then famous repository for natural history curiosities, Peale's Museum, in Philadelphia.
They were mounted by Peale, and submitted to the famous ornithologist,
Alexander Wilson—who was then publishing his great work on North American
birds—in order that plates and descriptions of the novelties might appear therein.
Wilson found that three species (possibly all that they secured) were new to science,
and named them "Louisiana tanager," "Clark's crow" i. e., nutcracker], and
"Lewis's woodpecker"—or, as they stand today in our technical lists, Piranga
ludoviciana (Wilson); Nucifraga columbians (Wilson), and Melanerpes torquatus
(Wilson). The three will be found together on plate 20, vol. iii, of the American
Ornithology. With the decline and disintegration of Peale's Museum, the ornithological
specimens were scattered; but recently some of them appeared in Boston, and
found their way into the possession of Charles J. Maynard. Among them, Mr.
Maynard informs me, is a specimen of Lewis's woodpecker, without much doubt
the original specimen, and probably the only one of this historic collection that is
still extant.—Witmer Stone, conservator of the Ornithological Section of the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806
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