138 



The insect collection of the Illinois State Natural History Survey 

 contains the most complete collection of Illinois insects in existence and 

 ranks high among the best general collections in this country. Its pos- 

 session is a valuable asset to the state and an aid to all lines of research 

 conducted by the Survey. The collection is the result of a wise policy 

 of many years' accumulation and direct collection of insect material. For 

 the benefit of those interested in the historical pliase of the insect collec- 

 tion of the Illinois State Natural History Survey a short sketch of its 

 origin and development is given. The State Entomologist's Office of 

 Illinois was estalilished in 1S6T with Benjamin Dane Walsh as Acting 

 State Entomologist. William LeBaron, soon after the accidental death 

 of Walsh, was appointed to the position of State Entomologist in ISTO 

 and held this office until 18T5. Then Cyrus Thomas succeeded William 

 LeBaron as State Entomologist and continued in office until the appoint- 

 ment of Stephen Alfred Forbes in 1882. The appointment of Stephen 

 Alfred Forbes brought about, in a sense, the merger of the Office of the 

 State Entomologist and the State Laboratory of Natural History, since 

 he was Director of the latter institution. In V.)17, the State Entomolo- 

 gist's Office was definitely merged by law with the State Laboratory of 

 Natural History to form the Illinois State Natural History Survey Di- 

 vision of the State Department of Registration and Education, and 

 Stephen Alfred Forbes was appointed as its Chief. 



During the period of IseT to the present time many descriptions of 

 new species have been published in the twenty-nine reports of the State 

 Entomologist's Office, the Bulletin of the State Laboratory of Natural 

 History, and its successor, the Bulletin of the Illinois State Natural His- 

 tory Survey. Concerning these publications I quote from an introduction 

 written for a list of exchange and available publications and published 

 in 1924 by Stephen Alfred Forbes. 



"Twenty-nine reports of the State Entomologist were published be- 

 tween 1868 and 1916, the first by Benjamin Dane Walsh, the second to 

 the fifth by William LeBaron, the sixth to the eleventh by Cyrus Thomas, 

 and the twelfth to the twenty-ninth by Stephen Alfred Forbes. Later 

 articles of like object and character to those in these reports are published 

 as bulletins and circulars of the State Natural History Survey. 



"The State Laboratory of Natural History began publication of its 

 Bulletin in 1876, the first number of what became Volume 1 of this series 

 being issued as a bulletin of the Illinois Museum of Natural History. All 

 subsequent numbers were issued as bulletins of the above Laboratory 

 until 1917, after which the series was continued as the Bulletin of the 

 Illinois State Natural History Survey. Volumes 1 to 12 have been pub- 

 lished under the first of these titles, and ];3 and 14, together with Articles 

 1-3 of Volume 15, under the second.* The State Laboratory of Natural 

 History has also published three volumes and an atlas of final reports on 



* Now Volume 16, Article 3. 



