199 



It was my purpose to consider in this paper the various collections of 

 the state, private as well as those owned by the various colleges, but the 

 necessary data are not yet in my possession. I trust however at the spring 

 meeting of the Academy to present a tabulated statement covering these 

 points. 



This paper, submitted to the Academy at the request of the directors of 

 the state biological survey, is merely an expression of my own personal 

 views, the exact form which this work may take lying wholly in their 

 hands. 



THE RELATIONS OF THE HIGH SCHOOLS OF INDIANA TO THE 

 PROPOSED BIOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



By W. S Blatchley. 



In my opinion the high schools of the state could, in the presence of 

 the proper conditions, be made a most important faptor in the prosecution 

 of the proposed survey, and could themselves derive much benefit from it. 

 But, in probably the majority of cases, the conditions are lacking, and be- 

 fore they can be brought about I am afraid the survey will have long since 

 been completed. 



It is to the teacher of biology, if to any one in the faculty of the high 

 school, to whom the survey must look for aid. He, or she, alone of the 

 faculty, is supposed to be interested in birds, bugs and flowers to such an 

 extent that they can readily instill in the minds of their pupils that desire 

 to know more of the secrets of nature and of the life history of her varied 

 objects which will cause those pupils to be on somewhat intimate terms 

 with their local fauna and flora, and so be able to note to some degree the 

 more rare and interesting forms of animal and plant life about them, to be 

 able to record the abundance of these forms, their local distribution and 

 the causes thereof, in short all facts which may afterwards be of aid to the 

 directors of this survey and their assistants. 



Only teachers who are themselves enthused with the subject can beget 

 the necessary enthusiasm in their pupils, and it is to such teachers as 

 leaders, therefore, to whom the survey must look for aid. 



Let us consider then the high sch/Dol biology teachers of the state as a 

 class, and see whether much should be expected of them by the survey. 



