ABSTRACT
The 1905–1906 Galápagos scientific collecting expedition achieved its success through careful planning and organization and by selecting competent fieldworkers as expedition members (Figure 5.1). The California Academy of Sciences (CAS) in San Francisco, California organized this crucial expedition. It shaped the history of Galápagos and the history of evolutionary thinking, particularly Neo-Darwinism. The determined organizational efforts of museum director and ornithologist Leverett Mills Loomis (1857–1928) (Bishop 1929) resulted in meticulous and methodical advance planning for the expedition. Its clearly defined goals were to collect a comprehensive set of specimens in the Galápagos Islands and return to San Francisco. These ends were met and exceeded Loomis's scientific expectations.
