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Academy Galapagos Expedition (1905-1906) | Collecting for Bent in Alaska (1911-1912)
Brewster-Sanford Expedition (1912-1917) | Whitney South Seas Expedition (1920-1929)
Back Home in Planada (1930-1950) | Bird Specimens at the PGMNH
Artifacts | Map of Beck's World Travels | Exhibit Credits | Links

MONTEREY BAY COLLECTING (1903-1910)

Around the turn of the 20th century, California Academy of Sciences' (CAS) director Leverett Mills Loomis hired Rollo Beck as chief field assistant, and sent him to the Monterey Bay.

Beck immersed himself in the abundant bird life of the area, particularly around Point Pinos, and returned intermittently between 1903 and 1907. He also made several offshore trips for Loomis to the Santa Barbara Islands, an island off of Baja, and the Galapagos Islands.

Three men in front of Hopkins Seaside Laboratory at Lovers Point.
From left: unidentified man holds Black-vented Shearwater and pliers;
CAS' Leverett Loomis with gun; and unidentified man with oar.
c. 1895, # 27.1-451-PBA from the PGMNH's Tuttle Collection.

In 1907, Loomis asked Beck to collect in Hawaii, and shortly before his departure, Beck asked for a raise--which was denied.

In 1908, Beck offered his services to Joseph Grinnell at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ), and resumed collecting around Point Pinos for that institution. One of these study bird skins is in the Rollo Beck exhibit, along with a mounted specimen of the same species, Pomarine Jaeger, that Beck sold to the PGMNH in 1948.


These Pomarine Jaegers, both prepared by Beck, show two types of prepared specimens
that are often included in museum collections--an exhibit mount (above) and a study skin (below).
The former presents the museum visitor with a lifelike representation, and the latter
involves removal of internal organs, musculature, and most of the skeleton of the
specimen, replacing the internal body cavity with cotton, excelsior, or cornmeal.

Mount from the Museum's collection. Bird skin on permanent loan from MVZ.
In 1910, CAS published Beck's annotated list of 94 species of Water Birds of the Vicinity of Point Pinos, California.


Adult Island Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis becki), Santa Cruz Island, Santa Barbara County.
Photo courtesy of Gary Nafis' CaliforniaHerps.com.
The Island Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis becki) was first collected by Beck on San Miguel Island, Santa Barbara County, on March 26, 1903, while Beck was collecting for Loomis. It was identified by J. Van Denburgh, and named by him to honor the collector. The holotype (the single physical example of an organism, known to be used when the taxon was formally described) is held by CAS' herpetology department. Visit Gary Nafis's CaliforniaHerps.com Island Fence Lizard webpage for more information.
Visit CAS' database of birds and mammals in their collection.
Visit Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University's webpage
Read Louis Bishop's "In Memoriam: Leverett Mills Loomis" in an online version of the Auk (Volume 46, Number 1, January 1929), available at SORA (Searchable Ornithological Research Archive).
Visit Don Roberson's extensive Monterey County Birds webpage.
Visit the Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society's webpage.
Visit MVZ's database of specimens and archival material in their collection.
Visit PGMNH's Point Pinos Lighthouse page.

MONTEREY BAY COLLECTING (1903-1910)

Exhibit Home | The Early California Years (1870-1896)
Collecting for Lord Rothschild (1897-1898) | Monterey Bay Collecting (1903-1910)
Academy Galapagos Expedition (1905-1906) | Collecting for Bent in Alaska (1911-1912)
Brewster-Sanford Expedition (1912-1917) | Whitney South Seas Expedition (1920-1929)
Back Home in Planada (1930-1950) | Bird Specimens at the PGMNH
Artifacts | Map of Beck's World Travels | Exhibit Credits | Links

Page created April 28, 2006. Last updated May 10, 2006.
Page copyright 2006 by the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History.