184 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



rendered every assistance in his power, ever remaining a warm 

 friend. When the doctor was called to Washington as Botanist 

 to the Department of Agriculture, in 1873, Prof. Forbes suc- 

 ceeded him, increasing largely the collections, especially in 

 zoology and cryptogamic botany, at the same time organizing the 

 School and College Association of Natural History for the col- 

 lection and exchange through the museum of natural history 

 material. 



He also organized the Summer Schools of Science at Bloom- 

 ington, having the assistance of such scholars as Dr. Burt 

 G. Wilder, and Profs. Barnard and Burrill, each of whom 

 taught the specialties in which he had become eminent, Prof. 

 Forbes teaching zoology! These schools eventually created the 

 State Natural History Society which has occupied such an emi- 

 nent place among gatherings of its class, the success of which is 

 wholly due to Prof. Forbes' unremitting and self-sacrificing 

 labors. 



When the State Museum at Springfield was projected, Prof. 

 Forbes assisted in its establishment and organization, furnishing 

 all the specimens in zoology and botany. About this time he 

 effected a complete re- organization of the museum at Normal, 

 converting it into a Laboratory of Natural History, under 

 the supervision of the State Board of Education, he receiving 

 the appointment of Director. Having received the necessary ap- 

 propriations from the State Legislature, he began a systematic 

 zoological survey of the State, publishing the results in the Bulle- 

 tins of the Laboratory, of which two volumes are complete, the 

 third in course of publication. These Bulletins contain lists of 

 plants, insects, birds, reptiles, batrachians, fishes, etc., and many 

 exhaustive papers on the food of birds, fishes and insects, show- 

 ing their inter-relations, and being the first effort to obtain an 

 exact knowledge of such food habits, one thus being able to dif- 

 ferentiate between noxious and beneficial species. Prof. Forbes 

 is also preparing for publication a series of illustrated reports on 

 the botany and zoology of the State which, when completed, will 

 be an elaborate treatise on the natural history of Illinois. The 

 first of these volumes, on the birds of the State, is now ready for 

 distribution, and the manuscript of the second is jnore than half 

 ready for the press. 



In July, 1882, Prof. Forbes was appointed State Entomologist 

 by Gov. Cullom, and continues to perform the duties of that office in 

 connection with those of Director of the Laboratory. "In this posi- 

 tion he has gained the confidence of the agricultural interests by the 

 skill with which he has managed the economic problems that pre- 

 sent themselves in the conflict between the vegetable and animal 

 worlds." As State Entomologist he has published five reports 

 and one volume of "Miscellaneous Essays," all of which have 

 appeared in the transactions of the State Board of Agriculture. 



