Zoological exploration in Mexico : the route of Lieut. D.N. Couch in 1853

Amerncan Museum

ovitates

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
CENTRAL PARK WEST AT 79TH STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y. 10024

NUMBER 2350 OCTOBER 4, 1968

Zoological Exploration in Mexico—the

Route of Lieut. D. N. Couch in 1853

By Rocer Conant!

Lieutenant Darius Nash Couch was an enthusiastic and productive
naturalist who spent several months in Mexico during 1853, traveling
under the aegis of the Smithsonian Institution. He assembled a con-
siderable collection of vertebrates, many of which eventually became
the types of new species, some named for him.

Kellogg (1932, pp. 6, 52), in his review of persons who collected am-
phibians for the United States National Museum, included a number
of facts about Couch but stated that a report on Couch’s expedition,
although written, had never been published. Dr. Alexander Wetmore
advised me (personal communication), while he was Secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution, that neither field notes nor any detailed report
by Couch had ever been found. Precise information on Couch’s itinerary
therefore is lacking, and persons who study his material are often con-
fronted with the problem of trying to determine exactly where he worked
in the field. A case in point was my own effort to pinpoint the type
localities of several natricine snakes ascribed to him as collector. So
many data were assembled in the process, however, that I was encour-
aged to reconstruct Couch’s route in considerable detail. Publication of
this information was originally intended for inclusion in a monographic
study of the genus Natrix in Mexico, but Couch’s travels probably will

1 Research Associate, Department of Herpetology, the American Museum of Natural
History; Director and Curator of Reptiles, Philadelphia Zoological Garden.

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1968 CONANT: ROUTE OF COUCH 3

be of interest to students of other disciplines, and it thus seems advisable
to record them separately.

Couch was born at Southeast, Putnam County, New York, on July 23,
1822, and he graduated from the United States Military Academy in
the class of 1846. He served in the war with Mexico and saw action
in the Battle of Buena Vista near Saltillo, Coahuila, on February 22-23,
1847, where he was promoted “for gallant and meritorious conduct.”
Undoubtedly it was his participation as a soldier in the field in Mexico
that prompted him to return to that country on his own as a First
Lieutenant on leave of absence from the United States Army. Couch
resigned his commission in 1855 after serving at various forts and gar-
risons from Key West to Massachusetts and west to Kansas. He entered
service again during the Civil War, became a Division Commander of
the Union Army, and participated in several major engagements with
distinction despite ill health. “During the Rebellion,” he said, “my well
days were few in consequence of disease contracted during the Mexican
War” (unpublished letter). Gouch rose to the rank of Major General.
He resigned May 26, 1865, and died at Norwalk, Connecticut, on Feb-
ruary 12, 1897.

The biographical accounts (Cullum, 1868; Geiser, 1937; and Johnson
and Malone, 1958), from which the facts stated above are derived, gave
Couch’s leave of absence as “1853-1854” and implied that he was in
Mexico during both years, but there is no evidence in the zoological
literature, insofar as I can determine, to indicate that he visited Mexico
during 1854. All dates on material he collected are for 1853. He was in
Washington, on leave of absence during the early part of 1854, as is
amply proved by handwritten letters preserved in the manuscript files
of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the archives
of the Smithsonian Institution.

There are some 50 Couch letters in the latter collection, chiefly cor-
respondence with Spencer Fullerton Baird of the Smithsonian Institution,
which spans a period of nearly 20 years, beginning in 1852. The series
is far from complete because numerous letters are obviously missing,
and the copies of many of those from Baird are in large part illegible.
(They were duplicated on wet tissues on an old-fashioned letterpress
before carbon paper came into general use.) Nonetheless they constitute
a valuable record supplying much background information on Couch’s
interests and activities and corroborating numerous facts gleaned from
other sources. By far the most pertinent to the subject of the present
paper is a letter in which Couch outlined his general route, mentioned
several of his stops, and indicated his terminal points (approximate in

4 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 2350

the west). Evidently as a result of prompting by Baird, Couch wrote to
him from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on January 30, 1855 (in part), as
follows:

“You know that it is out of the question for me to write anything
like an extended report that would be fit for publication, though noth-
ing preventing you shall some time have a copy of what I have written.

“Here is a species of an epitome of my notes.

“T reached Brasos Santiago southwestern Texas January 21st 1853—
from thence proceeded to Brownsville on the Rio Grande 28 miles dis-
tant and opposite Matamoros. One month was occupied here in making
collections of Natural History, repacking and forwarding to the Smith-
sonian Inst the extensive collection of Dr. Berlandier a Swiss Savant of
extensive research who died near Matamoros in 1851 having lived in
that City for twenty years. With two pack mules & two mounted ser-
vants I crossed the River at Brownsville and struck west towards Mon-
terey the Capital of Nuevo Leon—travelling at slow marches in order
to gather information of the Country, its people, and fill my panniers
with specimens in Natural History etc. After spending some time in
examining the Sierras that lie south of Monterey as well as West I left
for Parras in Coahuila nearly West and distant by my route 185 miles
enriching my packs and note book with anything of interest that came
in my way—Between Saltillo and Parras the people were in continual
alarm from the incursions of Northern Indians, this state of things
greatly impeded my labors. From Parras my journey was prosecuted
still farther Westerly to the Plains of the lower Bolson de Mapimi.
After exploring some celebrated caves used as tombs by the Ancient
Mexicans—Having now lost my best servant and the other refusing to
accompany me farther, I went to the salt plains of Alamo de Parras
and then to Parras, from there returned to Monterey with the intention
of going to the Huasteca country lying south of ‘Tamaulipas. It became
expedient to give up this journey and return to the United States. There
Professor is the expedition & at your service.”

While he was in the Brownsville-Matamoros area, Couch successfully
negotiated for the purchase of the papers, herbarium, and zoological
and mineral collections of Jean Louis Berlandier from the latter’s widow.
He shipped these to the Smithsonian Institution and, by making them
available for study and sending part of the plant collection to Switzer-
land, helped to clear Berlandier’s name. That Swiss botanist had married
and settled in Matamoros where he earned a position of respect, but he
fell into disrepute with some of his Swiss backers who severely criticized
him (Geiser, 1937, p. 63; McKelvey, 1955, p. 366).

1968 CONANT: ROUTE OF COUCH M)

From the correspondence it is apparent that Couch purchased the
Berlandier material with his personal funds. The price was not stated,
but there are several comments about attempts to sell portions of the
collection, and an acknowledgment of the receipt of $400 as payment
“in full for the botanical specs. of the ‘Berlandier collection’ ” is among
the Couch letters. There are indications that Baird tried to influence
members of Congress to appropriate funds for the publication of the
Berlandier manuscripts and to reimburse Couch for his expenses. Joseph
Henry (1855, p. 15), Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, expressed
similar thoughts.

No evidence has come to hand indicating that Couch was involved
in a railroad survey (as suggested by Kellogg, 1932, pp. 5, 52), boundary
survey, or other work sponsored by the United States Government. He
was on his own, as was clearly indicated by Henry (doc. cit.) who stated,
“Lieutenant D. N. Couch, U.S.A., communicated to the Smithsonian
Institution a proposition to make at his own expense a scientific ex-
ploration in the States of Mexico, adjoining the lower Rio Grande...
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 embarked on his expedition.”

Couch’s plans concerning his route in Mexico were evidently nebulous
to some extent, for as late as February 24, 1853, he wrote to Baird from
Brownsville: “I am now about ready for the field—have some time been
agitating in my mind the expediency of going South to Victoria and
from thence into the valley beyond the Sierra Madre.”

He abandoned this plan soon afterward, for in March he headed
almost due west from Matamoros, as indicated on the map (fig. 1).

It is likely that Couch had no exact destination in mind other than
the natural one of wishing to revisit the battlefield at Buena Vista,
where he had served during the Mexican war. Baird must have been
aware of this when he dispatched a letter to Couch at Saltillo on June 1,
1853: “Captain Van Vliet [of the garrison at Fort Brown near Browns-
ville] writes that he suggested to you a trip into Sonora. This if prac-
ticable would give most important results, especially if you penetrate
to the Gulf of California. There are oceans of things over there. The
peninsula of California would [word undecipherable] to you riches more
than those of gold.”

Couch, of course, stopped far short of these suggested destinations,
as is confirmed in his letter of January 30, 1855, outlining the route he
had followed. Although this account of his trip mentioned only a few

6 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 2350

of the places where he worked in the field, information about many
others fortunately is available from several sources. Among some of the
journals in which his Mexican material was reported are tables of data
that include localities and collectors’ names and some dates. By search-
ing these for “Lieut. Couch,” as he was usually listed, and plotting
them on a map (fig. 1), one can establish much of the detail of his route.

The most productive source proved to be the report on birds by Baird,
Cassin, and Lawrence (1858), which appeared in one of the publications
on the Pacific railroad surveys, and which also included many localities
far afield from the exploration routes. Other data were obtained from
Baird (1857 and 1859), Girard (1858 and 1859), Yarrow (1882), and the
catalogue of the herpetological collection of the United States National
Museum.

Dates were included in these reports and catalogues for only a few
of the specimens listed, and even in such cases only the month was
usually indicated. The dates appearing in the itinerary below are mainly
from Baird, Cassin, and Lawrence (1858). I have not attempted to find
additional dates by examining museum specimens that may have tags
attached or stored with them. Also, I have not made an exhaustive
search of the literature in the hope of finding additional localities, a
task that would require an inordinate amount of time in proportion to
the potential results.

There are many variations and errors in spelling in the several sources
of information, “Santa Caterina” for “Santa Catarina,” for example,
and “Charo Iscendido” for “Charco Escondido,” but I have adjusted
these to conform with current usage.

Most of Couch’s collecting sites appear on modern road or topographic
maps, and these are listed in the itinerary without comment, but others
were found only after considerable research. One particularly valuable
reference was a map of Mexico published by Disturnell (1853). Because
of the limited and frequently erroneous information available to car-
tographers of the day, the Disturnell chart contains many inaccuracies
and distortions, but it does show certain localities that I failed to find
on numerous other maps, and it delineates many of the primitive roads
of the time. When the Couch collecting stations are compared with this
map, they fall into logical sequence along or close to what apparently
was the main route from Matamoros to Monterrey to Saltillo to Parras.
Couch may have carried an earlier edition of the Disturnell map (1847),
or a similar one, into the field with him.

In the following itinerary the Couch localities are listed in geographi-
cal and (as far as possible) chronological order. Comments are included
on the more obscure ones and those that are no longer known by the

1968 CONANT: ROUTE OF COUCH 7

names they bore more than a century ago. The practice of changing
place names in Mexico has been widespread and has led to considerable
confusion.

COUCH’S ITINERARY

BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS, FEBRUARY AND MARCH
Matamoros, TAMAULIPAS, MarcH 1

SANTA Rosa.Lfa, STATE NoT INDICATED, MARCH
Victoria, TAMAULIPAS, No DaTE

Couch, as a military man, may have established his headquarters at
Fort Brown, near Brownsville, crossing back and forth into Matamoros
and collecting near both settlements as he negotiated for the purchase
of the Berlandier collection and prepared it for shipment to Washington.
The March dates for both Brownsville and Matamoros indicate that he
remained in their vicinity longer than the month mentioned in his letter.
Many of Couch’s specimens, designated simply as “Tamaulipas,” were
collected during March and April, and these may have been taken near
Matamoros or on his way westward to Nuevo Ledén. Santa Rosalia,
according to Baird (1857, p. 714), was in “northeastern Mexico, west
of Matamoros. Precise locality not ascertained.” Santa Rosalia appears
a short distance west of Matamoros on the Tamaulipas sheet (Secretaria
de Agricultura y Ganaderia, 1946), and it also is indicated approxi-
mately 27 kilometers west-southwest of Matamoros on sheet 11-II-(U) of
the “Carta de la Reptblica Mexicana” (Secretaria de Estado, etc., 1904-
1905). Victoria probably was a rancho or hacienda that is not shown on
maps rather than the capital city of Tamaulipas, which is far to the
south of any locality on Couch’s route.

CxHarco Esconpipo, Nuevo LeOén, Marcu AND May

This locality, according to Baird (1857, p. 422) was “24 leagues west
of Matamoros” and (p. 706) “not far south of lat. 26.” It appears on
the Monterrey sheet (American Geographical Society of New York, 1937)
at approximately latitude 25° 47’ N. and about 12 miles east of the
boundary of Nuevo Leén. Hence, Charco Escondido is in Tamaulipas,
but on virtually a direct line between Matamoros and China, two of
Couch’s collecting sites. It is probable that boundaries were so poorly
defined more than a century ago that Couch and his men were not sure
in which state they were working. The May date probably is a typo-
graphical error (for “Mar.”?), for it seems unlikely that Couch would
have retraced his steps when he was much farther west during May.

8 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 2350

Charco Escondido also appears on the Madre Lagoon sheet (United
States Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1946).

Cuina, Nuevo Leén, Marcu
SAN Dreco, Nuevo Leén, Marcu AND APRIL

The San Diego locality is qualified in several of the listings by “Rio
San Juan near Cadereyta.” (The tributary of the Rio San Juan on
which Cadereyta is situated appears as the Rio de Monterrey on recent
maps.) According to sheet 11-III-(B) (Secretaria de Estado, etc., 1904-
1905), San Diego is approximately 3.5 kilometers east-northeast of San
Juan; the latter village appears on several modern maps downstream
from Cadereyta. San Diego may have been larger when Couch visited
there, but by the time Garcia Cubas published his gazetteer in 1898
(vol. 5, p. 51) he listed its population as six persons.

CADEREYTA, NuEvo LEOn, Apri 18

Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Apri AND May

SIERRA Mapre, Nuevo Leon, APRIL

BoguiLLa, NuEvo LEON, APRIL

GuaJuco (= VILLA DE SANTIAGO), Nuevo Leon, No DATE

Couch presumably continued westward through Cadereyta to Mon-
terrey, where, as indicated in his letter to Baird, he explored the moun-
tains to the south and west. Several specimens, listed simply as “New
Leon,” were obtained during the months of April and May. “Sierra
Madre” probably refers to the eastern escarpment of the Mexican plateau
and the associated mountains rather than to any specific locality. Garcia
Cubas (1898, vol. 1, p. 427) listed several Boquillas from Nuevo Leén,
but only one, Boquilla y Chupaderos, a “rancho de la municipalidad de
Monierrey,’’ was close to that city. Two small settlements, Boquillas and
Chupaderos, appear close together on sheet 11-III-(A) (Secretaria de
Estado, etc., 1904-1905), 2 and 3 kilometers, respectively, south of Mon-
terrey. These presumably were the same as Garcia Cubas’ “Boquilla y
Chupaderos.” All of his other Boquillas are at considerable distances
from Couch’s route, with the exception of one described as a “congre-
gacién de la municipalidad de Allende,” but there is no evidence that Couch
ventured so far south. It is probable, however, that he visited the Cola
de Caballo (Horsetail Falls) somewhat farther north, a locality of out-
standing interest that would be a lure for any naturalist working near
Monterrey. According to Girard (1859, p. 44) one of his collecting sta-
tions was Guajuco (=Huajuco), a former name (Garcia Cubas, 1898,
vol. 5, p. 159) for the Villa de Santiago, the town near the entrance to

1968 CONANT: ROUTE OF COUCH 9

the gorge containing the falls. The name Huajuco still survives (Ameri-
can Automobile Association, 1967, pp. 234-235), as Huajuco Canyon,
through which the Pan-American Highway passes north of the Villa de
Santiago.

Girard (1859, p. 59) included “Acapulco, near Monterey, New Leon.”
This locality, which I have been unable to find, may now be within the
limits of the rapidly expanding city of Monterrey. So also may be
“Guapuco and Guapuca, Monterrey,” which appear as Couch localities
in the herpetological catalogue of the United States National Museum.
Although both of these are qualified by Monterrey, there is a distinct
possibility they are misspellings for Guajuco. Baird (1857, pp. 234, 444)
listed mammals collected by Couch at Guayapuco that he (Baird, p. 709)
stated was “in north eastern Mexico, not far south of the Rio Grande
of Texas.” I have been unable to find a Guayapuco, and it, too, may be
a misspelling or the result of an error in transferring data from hand-
written tags or notes.

SANTA CATARINA, NuEvo LEON, APRIL
PESQUERIA GRANDE (= VILLA DE Garcia), Nuevo Leon, May

Just as he probably was attracted to the Cola de Caballo, Couch, as
Gordon (1953, p. 173) implied, almost certainly visited the spectacular
Cafion de la Huasteca that is very close to Santa Catarina. Pesqueria
Grande, on the Rio Pesqueria, is now known as the Villa de Garcia
(Smith and Taylor, 1950, p. 184; Axtell, 1961, p. 148).

RINCONADA, COAHUILA, No DaTE

SALTILLO, COAHUILA, MAY

BueEnA Vista, CoanuiLa, No Date

Acua Nueva, COAHUILA, May

Patos (= GENERAL CEPEDA), CoAnuILa, No DaTE
CasTANUELAS (= CASTANUELA), CoAHuILA, No DaTE
Parras, CoanuiILa, No DaTE

Rio Nazas, CoaHuILa, No DaTE

Rio Nazas, DuRANGO, JUNE

From Monterrey Couch apparently ascended the easy pass through
the Sierra Madre Oriental to Saltillo and then crossed the desert to
Parras and finally to the Rio Nazas near the Coahuila-Durango bor-
der, which probably was only vaguely defined in 1853. Presumably he
worked near the mouth of that large interior river, which formerly ter-
minated in the desert in western Coahuila. There he would have been
within “the Plains of the lower Bolson de Mapimi,” as stated in his

10 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 2350

letter to Baird. I can find no evidence that Couch ever collected farther
westward in Mexico.

Rinconada, as Milstead (1953, p. 373) pointed out, is a place name of
frequent occurrence in Mexico, but it seems likely that the Rinconada
visited by Couch would have been one appearing on a contemporary
map and between other localities where he is known to have worked.
Such a name shows on the Disturnell (1853) map as Rinconada Pass
on the boundary line between Nuevo Leén and Coahuila. A village
and a railway station designated as Rinconada are plotted in almost
the same place on modern maps. The village is on the Monterrey sheet
(op. cit.), and is situated near the summit of the pass through the Sierra
Madre approximately 20 miles northeast of Ramos Arizpe. The Estacién
Rinconada, a nearby stop along the railroad, is included on sheet 22
of “La carta general de la Repdblica Mexicana . . .” (Ex-Comisién
Intersecretarial, 1958). Both localities are in Nuevo Leén, however, and
not in Coahuila as stated in the data accompanying material collected
by Couch. In view of the vagueness of boundaries a century ago and the
fact that the Disturnell map is notoriously inaccurate in delineating
the borders of most of the Mexican states (in comparison with present-
day maps), it is highly probable that Couch’s specimens came from the
general vicinity of the Rinconada near the head of the pass. This locality
at least has the distinction of being directly on his route. Webb (1966,
p. 58) accepted it as the type locality for Thamnophis cyrtopsis cyrtopsis
(Kennicott), the type specimen (U.S.N.M. No. 8067) of which was col-
lected by Couch in 1853.

Patos and Castafuelas seem to have disappeared from modern maps,
but they were both plotted on earlier ones. Patos is now known as Gen-
eral Cepeda, which is situated on one of the arms of the Arroyo de
Patos (Monterrey sheet, op. czt.). Castaiuelas presumably is the same as
Castanuela, a long-abandoned rancho, which is listed by the United States
Board on Geographic Names (1956, p. 95) as occurring at latitude 25°
27’ N., longitude 101° 46’ W. The Estacién Seguin, on the Saltillo-
Parras railroad, appears on recent maps near that location.

Couch’s return trip apparently was rapid, and there was little collect-
ing en route, to judge from the paucity of localities accompanied by
dates. He was back at San Diego, Nuevo Ledén, on August 1, and in
Tamaulipas in “August.”” Whether Couch made any side trips on his
way home near one or more of the (undated) localities listed in the
several references is not known. Kellogg (1932, p. 52) pointed out, how-
ever, that “a specimen labeled as having been taken by Lieutenant Couch
at Ringgold Barracks, Tex., is dated July 15, 1853.” Whether this date

1968 CONANT: ROUTE OF COUCH 11

was in error or whether some other mistake was involved cannot be de-
termined at this time, and it is not apparent just where and when Couch
exited from Mexico. The Ringgold Barracks (renamed Fort Ringgold in
1878) are at Rio Grande City, Texas.

It required many months for Lieutenant Couch to travel by horseback
from Matamoros to the Rio Nazas, and, although he admittedly pro-
gressed slowly and made frequent stops and side trips, the distance be-
tween the two end points, albeit by a somewhat different route, can now
be traversed by automobile in a day.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Dr. Ralph W. Axtell, who also has followed Couch’s trail both in the
field and in the literature, has very kindly permitted me to publish the
results of his inquiries in Mexico concerning changes in the names of
various settlements. He confirmed the present designations of Patos and
Castafiuelas during the summer of 1965, and his thoroughness is attested
by his efforts during an earlier trip to find Pesqueria Grande, now
known as the Villa de Garcia. He first made inquiry at Pesqueria Chica,
which appears on modern maps, then consulted the Nuevo Leén Infor-
mation Bureau in Monterrey, and finally called in person on the mayor
of the Villa de Garcia.

Mr. Samuel T. Suratt, Archivist of the Smithsonian Institution, made
the Couch-Baird correspondence available for my studies, and has granted
me permission to include abstracts from it. Mr. Garry D. Ryan and Mr.
Elmer O. Parker, of the Old Military Records Division of the National
Archives and Records Service, supplied information on the Ringgold
Barracks and Fort Brown and clues to Couch’s military career. Dr.
Charles M. Bogert helped to ferret out some of the more difficult lo-
calities, and the late Dr. Doris M. Cochran, Dr. Joseph Ewan, Mr. David
Harris, Dr. Robert H. Kanazawa, Dr. Remington Kellogg, Dr. Ernest A.
Lachner, Dr. Robert R. Miller, Dr. Hobart M. Smith, and Dr. Robert
G. Webb assisted in various ways. My wife, Mrs. Isabelle Hunt Conant,
drafted the map and was my constant companion in the field during the
many times when we followed or crossed portions of Couch’s route
through northeastern Mexico.

Although most of the work on this paper was done in various libraries,
chiefly at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, mention
should be included that our field work in Mexico was made possible
through the support of the National Science Foundation (Grants G-9040,
G-22657, and GB-2177) and through the courtesy of the President and
Board of Directors of the Zoological Society of Philadelphia. Collecting

12 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 2350

permits were very kindly issued to me by Dr. Rodolfo Hernandez Corzo
and his predecessor, Ing. Luis Macias Arellano, Director General de Caza
of the Departmento de Conservacién de la Fauna Silvestre, in Mexico
City.

To all of these persons and organizations I am grateful for aiding me
in a project that has seemed more like a piece of detective work than
any other research I have ever attempted.

LITERATURE CITED

AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION

1967. Mexico and Central America. 1967-68 edition. Washington, pp. 1-
392, numerous maps.

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEw YorK

1937. Monterrey, Mexico and the United States. Sheet N. G-14. Map of
Hispanic America. New York, scale 1:1,000,000, topographic.

AXTELL, RALPH W.

1961. Cnemidophorus inornatus, the valid name for the little striped whiptail
lizard, with the description of an annectant subspecies. Copeia, pp.
148-158, figs. 1-2.

BairD, SPENCER FULLERTON

1857. Report on the mammals. Jn Explorations and surveys for a railroad
route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Washington,
Ex. Doc. no. 78, pp. xxi-xlviii, 1-757, pls. 17-28, 30-60.

1859. Reptiles of the boundary. Jn United States and Mexican boundary
survey, under the order of Lieut. Col. W. H. Emory, Major First
Cavalry, and United States Commissioner. Washington, vol. 2, pt. 2,
pp. 1-35, pls. 1-41.

BaiRD, SPENCER FULLERTON, JOHN CASSIN, AND GEORGE N. LAWRENCE

1858. Birds. Jn Explorations and surveys for a railroad route from the Mis-
sissippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Washington, Ex. Doc. no. 78, pp.
i-lvi, 1-1005.

CuLLuM, GEORGE W.

1868. Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the United
States Military Academy at West Point, N. Y. New York, D. Van
Nostrand, vol. 2, 1841-1867, p. 148.

DisTuRNELL, J.

1847. Mapa de los Estados Unidos de Méjico. New York, scale 70 miles
= 1 inch, political.

1853. Mapa de los Estados Unidos de Méjico, California, etc. [Revised
edition.] New York, scale 70 miles = 1 inch, political.

Ex-ComisiOn INTERSECRETARIAL

1958. La carta general de la Reptblica Mexicana. Mexico City, scale

1:500,000, 47 topographic sheets.
Garcia Cusas, ANTONIO

1898. Diccionario geografico, histérico y biografico de los Estados Unidos
Mexicanos. Mexico City, Oficina Tip. (Tipografico?) de la Secretaria
de Fomento, vol. 1, pp. i-xx, 1-468; vol. 5, pp. 1-567.

1968 CONANT: ROUTE OF COUCH 13

GEISER, SAMUEL Woop

1937. Naturalists of the frontier. Dallas, Southern Methodist University

Press, pp. 1-341, 1 pl.
GIRARD, CHARLES

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