Saurian Expedition of 1905

The Saurian Expedition of 1905 was a noted paleontological research mission in northern Nevada in the United States. The expedition recovered many of the finest specimens of ichthyosaur ever found.

The expedition was led by Prof. John C. Merriam of the University of California and was financed by Annie Montague Alexander, who four years earlier as a student in Berkeley had become interested in Merriam's work. The expedition examined Triassic limestones in the West Humboldt Range northeast of Reno, progressing into central Nevada south to the Shoshone Mountains. Some of the specimens were returned to Berkeley and became part of the collection of the University of California Museum of Paleontology, which Alexander helped found and underwrite.