71 



BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE ILLINOIS STATE LABORA- 

 TORY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



I'o the Trustees of the Universitij of Illinois. 



Gentlemen: la pursuance of your general instructions as contained in 

 your proceedings for 1892 (June meeting), I submit tlie following report of 

 operations of the State Laboratory of Natural History for the past two years. 



These operations have been connected almost wholly with the work of the 

 State Entomologist or with that of the Biological Station. As the State 

 Entomologist's operations will be reported, under the law, to the Governor 

 previous to the next session of the Legislature, I will only say with regard to 

 them here that they have been directed mainly to the study of the life 

 histories of some of the insects injurious to corn, to an examination of the 

 shade trees and other ornamental vegetation of several of the larger towns of 

 central Illinois, and to work on the San Jose scale, distributed throughout 

 the State. 



Further investigation of the corn insects was undertaken with a view to 

 preparing for my next biennial report a second installment of a monograph 

 upon that subject. The study of the insects injurious to shade trees is the 

 beginning of what 1 intend to make an exhaustive survey of that topic in this 

 State; and the work on the San Jose scale has taken the form of a further 

 examination of suspected premises with a view to the possible occurrence of 

 hitherto undetected colonies of that insect in the State, a very thurouuh and 

 careful spraying with insecticide solution of premises known to harbor the 

 scale, the introduction of two fungus parasites of the scale obtained by me on 

 a personal visit to Florida last spring, and several lines of experimental work 

 undertaken in the hope of finding some cheaper and more effective insecticide 

 than the one now generally in use. In this same connection I have provided 

 for a general inspection of nurseries throughout the State, made at the 

 expense of the nurserymen. L^pon receipt of the report of the condition of 

 these nurseries from my inspectors, I have given to nurserymen official ceitifi- 

 cates setting forth the facts as to the existence on their premises of insects 

 likely to be conveyed in trade to the injury of their customers. 



The operations of the Biological Station have been carried on during the 

 past two years along lines practically the same as those previouslj" reported 

 upon, except that we have done much more during the last two yeai's with 

 fishes than previously, with the expectation of completing a formal report 

 upon the fishes of Illinois on which considerable progress had been made by 

 me long befoi-e the opening of the station. 



This study of the fishes of the station field was taken up systematically in 

 July, 1897, by Prof. Frank Smith, and continued by him without interruption 

 until September 1 of that year. In the summer of 1898 this was passed over 

 to Mr. Wallace Craig, assigned to the Biological Station as its resident 

 naturalist, and he will make this his principal occupation during this entire 

 year. He has been handsomely provided with various kinds of apparatus for 

 the collection of fishes in all the station situations, including seines of all 

 sorts, fish traps of various size and construction, set nets, and trammel nets. 

 This work is being so conducted as to give us correct ideas not only of the 



