The collections of the season, preserved for detailed study, are included 

 under nine hundred and fifty-eight collection numbers, representing as 

 many difit'erent lots of specimens. During the relatively 'iiuel winter 

 interval the Station force will he more or less continuously engaged upon 

 determination work and other laboratory studies and the jjreparation of 

 reports. Mr. Smith is studying now the oligochaete worms. >ir. Hart is rje- 

 terminingand describing ihsect larva- and "other aquatic insect forms, and 

 I have made myself responsible for the Crustacea of our collections (with 

 the assistance of Mr. C. F. Hottes, a fellow in tlie Univ»*rsityi. and for 

 a general discussion of methods and results. . The papers and reports 

 embodying these studies will be printed in the Jiulletin of the Illinois 

 State Laboratory of Natuial History, with ami)le illustrations, now being 

 made by Miss Lydia M. Hart. So far as possible, each general taxonomic 

 paper will be preceded by a thoroughly jjractical synopsis of genera and 

 species, illustrated by figures of typical forms, and' intendt-d to open up 

 to the student and teacher of natural history in Illinois many most inter- 

 esting and important parts of our local zoology which have hitherto Ijeen 

 a sealed book to all except the expert with a special library at his com- 

 mand. 



It will be seen that our season's work has fully opened up the field 

 and shown us what is necessary to the continuance and development of 

 our enterprise. I am entirely satisfied with the locality and wish to oc- 

 cupy it next year in a more permanent manner, with a" view to continu- 

 ous work there for several years, jM'obably no less than five. Tiie present 

 arrangements, while fairly satisfactory' for this preliminary year, and 

 clearly the best that could have been' made, were very inconvenient in 

 some respects and wasteful of the time and strength of the Station force. 

 The cabin-boat on Quiver lake was two and a half miles from town, and 

 it was usually necessary for all but one or two to make this trip back 

 and forth each day in skiffs. 



We, consequently, urgently need a small temporary building on the lake 

 sufficient to afford office and laboratory room and living accommodations 

 for the whole force. This building could be made capable of removal 

 elsewhere if desirable. The cabin-boat leased this summer, although the 

 best within our reach, was too small for our purpose and extremely un- 

 comfortable in hot weather, the temperature in the working room often 

 rising considerably above 100 degrees Fah., and we should have a boat of 

 this kind built especially for our purpose. This boat should be equipped 

 with a larger experimental apparatus than we had this year, useful for a 

 study of life histories, for a demonstration of the effects' of changed con- 

 ditions on various species kept in confinement, and for other similar 

 work, by which alone clues may be found to the highly complicated and 

 extremely difficult problems presenting themselves to the field observer. 

 A great amount of time and strength has been consumed in ntwing from 

 station to station, where our regular collections were made, and we 

 should have a small steam or naphtha launch or tug able to weather the 

 summer storms. 



It has fortunately happened this year that changes in the University 

 courses in my department have released the equipment and the corps of 

 instruction of the zoological laboratories for the spring and autumn 

 terms, and I have thus been able to Ijorrow for the Station a part of the 

 University material, and to assign to the Station work a part of our 

 force engaged for other purposes. This will usually be impossible here- 

 after, and considerable additions to the Station equipment and a larger 

 salary list will, consequently, be required. An estimate, in detail, of the 

 appropriations necessary to make these improvements and carry out these 

 plans has already been submitted to your committee on legislative appro- 

 priations, and I will here only suggest that it seems to me desirable that 

 the University and the State Laboratory should continue to share the 

 labors and expenses of the Station, since its work is equally advantageous 

 to tlie departments of instruction and to the i\atural history survey of 

 the State. 



S. A. Forbes. 

 Director. 



