54 TWELFTH REPORT. 



KEPOET UPON THE PROGRESS OF THE BIOLOGICAL WORK OF 



THE MICHIGAN GEOLOGICAL AND 



BIOLOGICAL SURVEY.^ 



ALEXANDER G. RUTHVEN. 



Mr. President and Meml)crs of the Michigan Academy of Science: 



At the I>ecember meeting of the Council a motion was carried to 

 request of the director of the ]\Iichigan Geological and Biological Survey 

 a report upon the work that has been done by, and the present status 

 of, the biological survey of the state, which the acaclemy was so instru- 

 mental in founding. The director, Mr. Allen, has requested me to make 

 this report, for since 1907, when the Board of Geological Survey, upon 

 the recommendation of the Board of Scientific Advisors, appointed me 

 Chief Field Naturalist of the survey. I have been very intimately con- 

 nected with the biological work. 



In order that I may bring the matter clearly before you. permit me to 

 give you a very brief historical account of the state geological and 

 biological surveys. The first survey was inaugiirated in 1837, immedi- 

 ately after the admission of Michigan into the Union. The act read as 

 follows: 



That the Governor is hereby authorized and directed to nominate, and by and 

 with the advice and consent of the senate, to appoint a competent person, whose 

 duty it shall be to make an accurate and complete geological survey of this 

 state, which shall be accompanied with proper maps and diagrams, and furnish 

 a full and scientific description of its rocks, soils and minerals, and of its 

 botanical and geological productions, together with specimens of the same; which 

 maps and diagrams and specimens shall be deposited in the state library, and 

 similar specimens shall be deposited in such literary and scientific institutions 

 as the governor shall direct; and the governor is further authorized to appoint 

 from time to time, as the exigencies of the case may require, competent persons 

 to act as assistants under the direction of the Geologist.- 



Alexander WinchelT' states that this act "provided for a geological, 

 zoological, botanical and topographical survey," from which I infer 

 that in the reference to ''botanical and geological productions" in the 

 act the word geological is a misprint for zoological. 



In the following year the governor approved a new act organizing the 

 survey on a more comprehensive basis. This act stated definitely that 

 the survey should consist of four departments, ''first, geological and 

 mineralogical ; second, zoological ; third, botanical ; and fourth, topo- 

 graphical." that three chief assistants to the state geologist should be 

 appointed, a zoologist, a botanist and a topographer, and that the dupli- 

 cate specimens should be deposited at the state university*. Under this 

 law work went on until the close of the year IS-ll, and until 1.S45 in 

 connection with the Ignited States suiweys. It is interesting to note 

 that this first survev was organized on a broader basis than anv of the 



^Delivered l)efore the general meeting of the Michigan Academy of Science. April 2, 1910. 

 2Laws of Michigan. 1837 — No. XX. 



^First Biennial Report of the Progress of the Geological Survey of Michigan, 18G1. p. 7. 

 «Laws of Michigan, 1838 — No. 49. 



