52 



History and of the State Entomologist's office is ecological in 

 the broader sense, having to do with the relations of animals 

 to their environment ; but much of this work, directed to 

 economic ends, is too miscellaneous to be taken into present 

 account as a contribution to a systematic survey of the 

 ecology of the state. 



Five special lines of work, however, fall strictly within this 

 field; namely, the aquatic work of the Biological Station at 

 Havana; statistical work on the numbers and local distribu- 

 tion of Illinois birds ; the work of the forestry survey of the 

 state ; a systematic survey of the mammals of Champaign 

 county, a report on which is now nearly ready for the press ; 

 and a study, by the State Entomologist's office, of the local 

 distribution, peculiarities of food, and other relations to na- 

 ture, of the various species of Lachnostcrno, or May-beetles, 

 the parent insects of the white-grubs. 



The aquatic work of the Biological Station was recom- 

 menced July 1, with ]\Ir. R. E. Richardson in charge as resi- 

 dent naturalist. An important part of the season's work has 

 been the making of a series of plankton collections compara- 

 ble with those made in the same places during the five-year 

 period 1894-1899. It is the object of these collections to bring 

 into quantitative comparison the present productivity of the 

 waters of the river and connected lakes with that of the time 

 preceding the opening of the drainage canal from Lake Michi- 

 gan into the Illinois river. Large collections have also been 

 made, necessary to a study of the food of various kinds of 

 fishes in various parts of the area under command from the 

 Biological Station, and data have been obtained for a com- 

 parison of two strongly contrasting overflow lakes in the 

 vicinity — Thompson's lake, north of Havana, and Matanzas lake, 

 southwest of it. 



Field work on the statistics of ornithology was carried on 

 during June, July, and August, in a way to verify and extend 

 our knowledge of the resident midsummer bird population of 

 the state in northern, central, and southern Illinois respective- 

 ly. The work was done in a way to enable us to eliminate 



