30 THE MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



area takeu for treatment is however too large to give the matter of the 

 book much local interest, or to allow it to be used in the study of 

 details. 



A third example of an ecological survey is that furnished by the work 

 of Dr. Livingston and published by the Geological Survey of Michigan 

 in 1901, under the title, "The Distribution of the Plant Societies of Kent 

 County. Michigan." Of the manner in which Dr. Livingston did his work 

 and the value of his conclusions there is no need of comment here. It 

 is sufficient to say that the "plan is good, and. J believe, is certain to 

 be the plan of the future. Dr. Livingston's unit is a county, but un- 

 fortunately his map is far too small to be of service except for the most 

 general outline of plant geography, and he has omitted farmland and 

 cultivated plants. He considers however climate and soil and their in- 

 fluence in determining the plant societies. 



I need not enumerate the relatively few other attempts at surveys — 

 such as some of the U. S. Government biological surveys — recently made 

 on an ecological basis. I would, however, as a final illustration call 

 your attention to two surveys that have recently a])peared in Great 

 Britain, one of the district about Edinburgh and the other of Yorkshire. 

 The first was made by Robert Smith and the second by Mr. G. Smith, 

 and C. E. Moss and W. Munn Rankin (the Geographical Journal, April 

 and August. 1903). In the introduction to the survey of Yorkshire these 

 words are found : "One may set out to find an answer to the question. 

 'What species occur here?' or to solve 'How are the species arranged with 

 regard to one another, and with regard to soil and climate?' The result 

 in the former case would be a flora ; in the latter it would be a connected 

 account of the vegetation." 



The survey of Yorkshire is a connected account of the vegetation. The 

 authors find that they can divide the district into moorland, woodland, 

 and farmland. These three great divisions each have their characteristic 

 vegetation. Each of the three divisions is subdivided into smaller areas. 

 The icoodland, for example, is subdivided into the oak, the mixed lowland, 

 and the pine. Again these are subdivided, as the oak into the dough 

 thicket, upland oak. and lowland oak. In each of these smallest divisions 

 the species of plants occurring are named, and the species are classed as 

 dominant, sul)doJ)iinant or dependent. The altitude, temperature, rain- 

 fall, and soil are given for each plant society. The accompanying map is 

 drawn on the scale of two miles to one inch, and contains IG different 

 colors to show the distribution of the plant societies. These colors are 

 superposed on a topographic background. 



Iminediate Uses of t^uch a Survey. 



The advantages to pure science of a state survey, no one will question. 

 Nor need we pause now to predict the economic value to the more dis- 

 tant future of such a survev, but merelv cast a glance at that future bv 

 repeating the common sentiment, that the pure science of today becomes 

 the applied science of tomorrow. Let us concern ourselves rather with 

 an enquiry as to the immediately practical uses of an ecological state 

 survey. 



Every intelligent ])erson lias noticed the great awakening within the 

 last few years of the interest in outdoor life. New periodicals devoted 



