worked with us during a i):irt of the summer of 1807, is now 

 nearly ready for the ])ress. 



The so-called plankton work, the systematic study, that is, 

 of the minuter forms of plant and animal life suspended in the 

 water, has gone steadily forward under Dr. Kofoid's immediate 

 care. Pielinements and improvements of method, new forms of 

 apparatus, and a vast mass of material which has been largely 

 identified and studied by him are some of the more obvious 

 results of our recent work in this field. No part of the work of 

 the Station attracts more general attention among scientific men 

 or is likely to lead to more interesting and important results. 



By the Chemical Department of the University regular 

 analyses of the waters of certain selected localities have been 

 made during the entire tw^o years, including one series of 

 analyses of the gaseous contents of the water, made at Havana, 

 one for each of twenty-four consecutive hours. This chemical 

 work combined with the continuous biological work of the 

 Station will, when generalized, furnish a most substantial and 

 authoritative body of knowledge of the conditions of the waters 

 of the middle Illinois jDrevious to the opening of the Chicago 

 drainage canal which can scarcely fail to have a high utility 

 for comparison with the results of similar studies made after 

 that event. 



Our main equipment — the cabin boat, the launch, and the 

 smaller boats — has served our purpose perfectly, aiul the Station 

 property is in good order and condition in all respects. 



The Summer School of 1898, for whose expenses you voted 

 a guarantee fund of $300, proved a disappointment only in the 

 number in attendance, a deficiency easily accounted for in part 

 by the lateness of the period at which we were able to announce 

 our session, and in part by the fact that Ave could not offer last 

 year certain local and personal inducements which may easily 

 be provided for another session. Authority to advertise the 

 school was not given until the March meeting of the Board this 

 year, too short an interval thus remaining before our opening in 

 -Tune. For want of any special building of our own we were 

 o])liged to resort to the village school building at Havana, 

 generously placed at our disposal without compensation by the 

 school trustees, and students of the School were thus compelled 



