A NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY OF MICHIGAN, 



PROFESSOR VOLNEY M. SPALDING. 



In Michigan, as in many other States; t^3 (desirability*, ojr, 

 perhaps better, the necessity of a survey of ihe natural re- 

 sources of the State was early recognize^.'/- In 183:7 BwimG? 

 Mason approved an act providing for a geological, zoological, 

 botanical and topographical survey. 



It is of interest to note that the early surveys, or explora- 

 tions, that followed were not limited to a study of the mineral 

 wealth of the Territory. The flora of the regions visited 

 occupied no inconsiderable part of the time and attention of 

 the explorers, and Dr. Houghton's plants in the University 

 herbarium are, many of them, after the lapse of over half a 

 century, still among the finest in the collection. Economical 

 considerations, however, soon led (1840) to the repeal of those 

 portions of the act that pertained to zoology and botany, and 

 but little more was undertaken in this direction until the sur- 

 vey of 1859 and 1860, the report of which, transmitted by 

 Professor Winchell, in 1860, included geology, zoology and 

 botany, the zoological part consisting of an enumeration of 

 birds, reptiles, batrachians and mollusks, while the part de- 

 voted to botany includes a list of vascular plants, with remarks 

 on distribution and economical relations. 



Since that date the survey has been geological. Its sci- 

 entific and practical value are not questioned, but it is at least 

 an open question whether a return to the more comprehensive 

 plan of the original promoters of the survey is not desirable, 

 and whether there is any reason to suppose that at the pres- 

 ent time there are under the earth in Michigan things about 



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