other collections of the State Laboratory, but include also an article on scale 

 insects of the State and one on insect disease; The influence of the State 

 Laboratory' upon the Department of Zoology is shown by the fact that three 

 of the above papers, each a vakiable contribution to science, have been pre- 

 pared by university students in the course of their work for lir^t and second 

 degrees. Such work would have been entirely beyond their reach except for 

 the materials, equipment, and literature provided by the Laboratory, which 

 has also borne the expense of their publication and illustration. 



With respect to the future of this work I am strongly of the opinion that a 

 decided advance should be made in the Natural History Survey, for which the 

 laboratory is responsible under the law of its establishment. The annual 

 appropriations made of late have been too small to provide for more than 

 the necessary operations of the entomologist's office, which they are 

 made to cover, and those of the Biological Station, with some incidental gen- 

 eral work naturally growing out of the operations of these two establish- 

 ments. 1 see no reason why the State of Illinois should not provide in a 

 suitable manner for the energetic prosecution of this sui'vey work which it 

 long ago authorized, and I propose, consequently, to ask of the next Legisla- 

 ture a suitable sum for this purpose and a s( parate sum for the economic in- 

 vestigations for which the State Entomologist is responsible. I think, also, 

 that the Legislature might well be asked to enlarge the field of the State 

 Laboratory of Natural History to include an economic geological survey, with 

 such topographical work as this might require, and a biological survey of the 

 water supplies of the State, conducted with special reference to sanitary in- 

 terests, a subject which is certainly not less important in some of its aspects 

 than that of their chemistry. 



For details respecting the various departments of the work of the Biological 

 Station you ai'e respectfully referred to the appended reports of the Station 

 Superintendent, Dr. C. A. Kofoid, of Prof. A. W. Palmer, Director of the 

 Chemical Survey, of Mr. Chas. A. Hart, Entomologist of the station, and of 

 Prof. Frank Smith, who served for a time as its Assistant Zoologist and as 

 principal instructor in the summer school. 



Respectfully submitted, 



S. A. Forbes, 



Director. 

 REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE BIOLOGICAL STATION. 



To the Director of the Laboratory. 



SiK:— The past two years have offered new and interesting conditions in 

 the environment in which the work of the Illinois Biological Station has been 

 prosecuted. The period of 1894 and 1895 was one of typical low water, with- 

 out an extensive rise of the river during the spring and earlj' summer, when 

 such floods usuallj^ occur. On the other hand, these years were not mai'ked 

 by long uninterrupted periods of very low water. Under these conditions of 

 two years of generally low water, without marked fluctuations; the lakes were 

 thoroughly choked with vegetation, and even the banks of the river itself be- 

 came fringed with a rank aquatic growth. A rise to 12.6 feet, culminating 

 January 0, 189G. was succeeded by a series of minor floods at intervals of 

 about two months thi'oughout the year. The net result was an increase in the 

 average height of the river for the year, which was G.87 feet above the low- 

 water mark — fully two feet above that of the average for the two years pre- 

 ceding. This was, then, a high-water year, without marked fluctuations, and 

 the result was that the vegetation remained to a considerable extent in the 

 Jakes and the river. The year 1897 opened with rising water, which culmi- 

 nated January 2^ at 12.9 feet, while a subsequent rise on March 27 reached a 

 height of sixteen feet — the highest point attained since 1892. From this 

 maximum the river fell slowly through the four months that followed, 

 reaching a minimum early in August. From this time until the close 

 of the year, in consequence of a general drought throughout the State, low 

 ■water persisted, there being only a slight rise as evaporation was checked 

 during the cooler weather of Autumn. In spite of the long-continued low 



