Field Work of St. Louis Section, American 

 Nature-Study Society 



J, Andrew Drushel. 



Harris Teachers College, St. Louis, Mo. 



The constitution of the local center provides for a specified 

 number of field trips. The chief purposes of the field work among 

 our members are (1) to become better acquainted with the local 

 physiography and fauna, (2) to secure material for class use, 

 much of which becomes the nucleus of a school or room collection, 

 (3) to stimulate the children to become acquainted with our local 

 plants and animals through the renewed interest of their teach- 

 ers in this work, (4) to encourage the members to carry their 

 work beyond the mere naming of plants and animals. (5j to cul- 

 tivate the habit of field observation preliminary to making some 

 original contribution to science, (6) to promote sociability and 

 good feeling among those people who wish to study nature in the 

 field. The constitution provides for at least four excursions dur- 

 ing the year, two in the spring and two in the autumn. Since the 

 organization of the local center there have been conducted under 

 the auspices of the local body six field trips yearly. This is in 

 addition to the trips made by small groups of members upon their 

 own initiative. 



We have always regarded it necessary for competent per- 

 sons to make, prior to each excursion, a survey of the region to 

 be studied. Then a synopsis of this region is made by the pre- 

 liminary survey party — the local executive committee consisting 

 of the president, the director, the secretary, and two other mem- 

 bers chosen from the section — and one copy is sent to each mem- 

 ber of the section a few days before the excursion. Those desir- 

 ing to make the trip are, thereby, entitled to make a preliminary 

 study of the points to be investigated. All this requires consid- 

 erable time and efifort ; but, as a compensation, the members have 

 come to consider the synopsis a necessary part of the equi])ment of 

 a successful trip. 



The following synopsis was used for the Allenton (Mis- 

 souri) trip which gave special attention to the plants of that 

 region. 



The third spring field meet of the St. Louis Section of the American 

 Nature-Stud}- Society will be held at Allenton Missouri, Saturday, May 

 6, 1910. The members will leave Union Station on the 9:25 Frisco train, 

 or Tower Grove at 9 :34. 



Ten-trip party tickets costing $3.70 each may he purcliascd at the 



8 



