Jan., 1910.] A Natural History Survey Needed in Ohio. 265 



under the State Museum of Natural History, which includes the 

 work of several bureaus. In Pennsylvania it is provided for in 

 the form of an office of state zoologist who collects material and 

 makes frcc^uent reports on progress. In Michigan the Biological 

 Survey has been in force for a few years only, but its scope is 

 practically the same as here outlined, except that no provision is 

 made for the distribution of collections. In Indiana it is associated 

 with the Geological Survey, but a large amount of work has been 

 done upon the plant and animal groups. In Illinois where the 

 work has been continued for some thirty years or more a great 

 deal has been accomplished in determining the character and dis- 

 tribution of the organic life of the state, extended studies upon the 

 food habit of birds, fishes and other forms have been carried 

 through, and extended series of collections have been distributed 

 to the high schools of the state. A number of very valuable 

 reports have been published, many of them inaccessible to people 

 outside of the state, except as they are distributed to the libraries 

 or specialists. The organization in Illinois is tenncd the vState 

 Laboratory of Natural History but its scope is practically that of 

 the Survey proposed for Ohio. It may be noted, however, that 

 there is a movement started in that state for a further ecological 

 survey which would enlarge the scope of the present work. In 

 Wisconsin the Natural History Survey has been associated with 

 the Geological Survey and has been in progress for over a ciuarter 

 of a century, and the same may be said of Minnesota. In Iowa 

 the present Survey has been in progress for about twenty years 

 and the surve}^ work of this character in Missouri, Kansas and 

 Nebraska has been carried on to about the same extent. 



In Ohio practicall}' nothing in this direction has been done 

 since the publication of the reports on birds, mammals and fishes in 

 the earlier Geological Survey reports, except such as has been done 

 by individuals. As these older reports are now not only inaccessi- 

 ble but are entirely out of date the data presented in them is of 

 service only so far as it may serve as a record for the time of its 

 publication. The need of a definite Biological Survey was urged 

 in the report of Director Thorne for the year 1S9(), but appar- 

 ently no definite steps were taken to organize or j^rovide for such 

 a survey. The Ohio Academy- of Sciences has during the last 

 fifteen years through the efforts of individual members published 

 a number of papers upon local collections or materials representing 

 a greater or less portion of the state, a considerable number of 

 these having been provided for by the generosity of Mr. Emerson 

 McMillen. These studies, however, have necessarih' been re- 

 stricted in their scope, and of course without any correlation or 

 connected eft'ort on the part of different individuals to make their 

 studies blend into a systematic study of the state at large. In 

 fact such a systematic study of the state at large cannot be hoped 



