Jan., 1910.] A Natural History Survey Needed in Ohio. 
2 6 5 
under the State Museum of Natural History, which includes the 
work of several bureaus. In Pennsylvania it is provided for in 
the form of an office of state zoologist who collects material and 
makes frequent reports on progress. In Michigan the Biological 
Survey has been in force for a few years only, but its scope is 
practically the same as here outlined, except that no provision is 
made for the distribution of collections. In Indiana it is associated 
with the Geological Survey, but a large amount of work has been 
done upon the plant and animal groups. In Illinois where the 
work has been continued for some thirty years or more a great 
deal has been accomplished in determining the character and dis- 
tribution of the organic life of the state, extended studies upon the 
food habit of birds, fishes and other forms have been carried 
through, and extended series of collections have been distributed 
to the high schools of the state. A number of very valuable 
reports have been published, many of them inaccessible to people 
outside of the state, except as they are distributed to the libraries 
or specialists. The organization in Illinois is termed the State 
Laboratory of Natural History but its scope is practically that of 
the Survey proposed for Ohio. It may be noted, however, that 
there is a movement started in that state for a further ecological 
survey which would enlarge the scope of the present work. In 
Wisconsin the Natural History Survey has been associated with 
the Geological Survey and has been in progress for over a quarter 
of a century, and the same may be said of Minnesota. In Iowa 
the present Survey has been in progress for about twenty years 
and the survey work of this character in Missouri, Kansas and 
Nebraska has been carried on to about the same extent. 
In Ohio practically nothing in this direction has been done 
since the publication of the reports on birds, mammals and fishes in 
the earlier Geological Survey reports, except such as has been done 
by individuals. As these older reports are now not only inaccessi- 
ble but arc entirely out of date the data presented in them is of 
service only so far as it may serve as a record for the time of its 
publication. The need of a definite Biological Survey was urged 
in the report of Director Thorne for the year 1890, but appar- 
ently no definite steps were taken to organize or provide for such 
a survey. The Ohio Academy of Sciences has during the last 
fifteen years through the efforts of individual members published 
a number of papers upon local collections or materials representing 
a greater or less portion of the state, a considerable number of 
these having been provided for by the generosity of Mr. Emerson 
McMillen. These studies, however, have necessarily been re- 
stricted in their scope, and of course without any correlation or 
connectcd effort on the part of different individuals to make their 
studies blend into a systematic study of the state at large. In 
fact such a systematic study of the state at large cannot be hoped 
