April 25, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



621 



would have all the scientific value attach- 

 ing to the taxonomy, geography and ecol- 

 ogy of such work. But besides this, such 

 a survey would be the very best means of 

 discovering the special problems that 

 should always form a part of a state sur- 

 vey. There has been no intention in what 

 has been said here to limit the work of the 

 natural history survey to the surveyed 

 quadrangles of the Topographic Survey. 

 Rather, it seems to me, should this be 

 adopted as the general policy of the sur- 

 vey; and, if successfully done, it could be 

 made to carry the other scientific work of 

 the survey. Important problems in mor- 

 phology and physiology would arise, and 

 sometimes the survey would wish to ex- 

 plore a region sparsely inhabited, the re- 

 port of the work in which would not be of 

 immediate use to the district, but might 

 be of great value to science. 



There are still two benefits to be men- 

 tioned which I believe would follow the 

 adoption of the biogeographic regional 

 survey. The first is the stimulation to in- 

 vestigation within the state in natural sci- 

 ence, including natural history. This 

 stimulation would produce better work as 

 the result of opening up multitudes of 

 problems on distribution, habits, etc. An 

 increase of activity in the study of scien- 

 tific problems of the state would tend to 

 produce more valuable contents both for 

 the survey reports and for the reports of 

 the academies of science. We might even 

 hope to see the lists of algie from Bermuda 

 and the crayfish from Yucatan crowded 

 out of these reports by the press of work 

 done in the state. 



The second benefit to follow, incident to 

 the awakening of scientific interest in the 

 state by the phytogeographic and the zoogeo- 

 graphic survey, and the problems discov- 

 ered by these surveys, would be the 



strengthening of the state academies of 

 science, and the better understanding and 

 sympathy among scientific workers, and 

 between scientific workers and teachers of 

 science. Many of us know how hard it is 

 to make the state academy of science a 

 worthy and profitable institution ; we know 

 how hard it is to obtain interesting matter 

 for the annual programs. On the other 

 hand, we know how many teachers out in 

 the state would gladly participate in work 

 on some problem. Cooperation between 

 the state suirvey and the academy of science 

 ofi'ers a means for many people of some 

 scientific ability, but not specialists, to en- 

 gage in profitable work. Some of this work 

 can be used by the survey and some by the- 

 academy of science. The survey and the- 

 academy of science should be closely allied^ 

 and generously critical of one another. 



As to the organization for a state nat- 

 ural history survey, I have nothing to give 

 except a word of advice to those who have 

 to start the work with but a small appro- 

 priation. Undoubtedly it would be best to 

 have a specialist at the head of each sci- 

 entific department represented; but if the 

 annual fund is but a thousand or two, this 

 is out of the question. But if the fund is 

 only a thousand dollars annually, it is bet- 

 ter to spend half of it in the employment 

 of a director for part time, than to attempt 

 to direct the work by a committee. The 

 survey needs continuity of thought and 

 purpose and a good deal of drudgery such 

 as a committee is not likely to perform. 

 If the reports or bulletins are designed for 

 educational purposes as well as scientific, 

 see that the written matter is presented so 

 as to be capable of the use for which it is 

 intended; much good matter has been 

 buried by a bad presentation. It is not of 

 the first importance that at the very start 

 of the new survey the time-honored desig- 



