Introduction Ill health and a general desire for a change of scenery prompted Agassiz to look for some opportunity for a vacation that might afford a scientific opportunity as well. I could not forget that, had I only the necessary means, I might make collections on this journey which, whenever our building could be so enlarged as to give room for their exhibition, would place the Museum in Cambridge on a level with the first institutions of the kind. While I was brooding over these thoughts I chanced to meet Mr. Nathaniel Thayer, whom I have ever found a generous friend to science. Thus, Agassiz found a ready patron who would be called upon time and again for additional financial support for the expedition, and for the expenses of shipping and curating the resulting enormous collections. Curator Mollusks MCZ Frederick C. Hartt, geologist Orestes St. John, geologist Joel A. Allen, ornithologist, Assist.
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The station and field numbering scheme follows Higuchi and in use by MCZ . Agassiz lectured to the cast en route, arriving Rio de Janeiro 23 April, 1865. The initial weeks were spent in the company of dignitaries and government officials, including Emporer Dom Pedro II who had a keen interest in natural history. Agassiz also gave several lectures on natural history and remarked on the attentive audiences in Rio, who were not accustomed to such public scientific lectures. The latter two groups were to explore the region between Rio de Janeiro and the Amazon via the Rio S o Francisco and Rio Tocantins.