To tJie Trustees of flic University of Illinois: 



GexNTLEMEn: At the meeting of the Trustees of the University 

 hehl in July, 1885, it was 



Resolved, That it is the sense of this Board that the Director of the State 

 Laboratory of Natural History should make quarterly reports to this Board, 

 through the Regent of the University, of the affairs and operations of the labo- 

 ratory under his charge. 



Heretofore, observing, perhaps, the spirit rather than the letter 

 of this resolution, I have endeavored to make you acquainted in- 

 formally with our operations each quarter, so far as was necessary to 

 your intelligent action on the requests which I have from time to 

 time submitted to you; but I have not made to you systematic 

 quarterly reports on the details of our work. I have lately con- 

 cluded, however, that more should be known by the public in- 

 terested, with respect to the scope, purpose, and results of the opera- 

 tions of the State Laboratory of Natural Historv; and as one means 

 to an improvement of our position in this respect, I have decided to 

 avail myself of the resolution cited above, and to file with you, for 

 your information, an outline of our plan of operations and of the 

 work accomplished each quarter. 



The work of the Laboratory is two-fold, relating on the one 

 hand to the natural history survey of the State (finally authorized 

 and organized by the Legislature of 1884-85), and on the other, to 

 the State Entomologist's Office, the working funds of which are all 

 derived, under existing arrangements, from the Laboratory appro- 

 priations. As State Entomologist, I am directly responsible only to 

 the Governor; but the entomological and the general zoological work 

 going on under my charge are so intimately blended that I cannot 

 well report upon one without including the other; and as both are 

 now supported by State appropriations administered by this Board, 1 

 have thought best to include both in this statement. 



The principal operations of the State Laboratory convenientl}' 

 divide into original inrfstigation, and the preparation and publica- 

 tion of papers, bulletins, and reports. We have been especiall}' en- 

 gaged during the last quarter upon the following subjects: 



(1) The life history of the Hessian fly. This is in continua- 

 tion of the research begun last year on the midsummer and winter 

 history of this species, by means of experimental sowings of wheat 

 made at intervals throughout the summer in southern Illinois. By 

 observing the appearance of the insects in these experimental ])lots 

 and following the history of the various lots through the winter and 



