MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
69 
PROGRESS OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 
OF MICHIGAN. 
R. C. ALLEN, DIRECTOR, AND A. G. RUTIIVEN, CHIEF FIELD NATURALIST. 
Geology and Topography by R. C. Allen. 
Members and friends of the Michigan Academy of Science : 
In accordance with the invitation of the Academy so courteously ex- 
tended to us last year I have the pleasure to transmit to you a report 
of the progress of the Michigan Geological and Biological Survey. The 
work of the department of Geological and Biological Survey is conducted 
under three divisions, each of which is provided with a separate appro- 
priation. These divisions are: 
1. The division of Geology established by the law of 1869, providing 
for a continuing appropriation of $8,000 annually. 
2. The division of Topography which is conducted under special ap- 
propriation from the legislature, the appropriation for the fiscal years 
1909-1910 and 1910-1911 being $2,000 per annum. 
3. The division of Biology established by law of 1905 which is also 
conducted under special appropriation from the legislature, the appro- 
priation for the fiscal years 1909-1910 and 1910-1911 being $1,000 per 
annum. 
/ 
The law of 1869 as amended provides that a survey shall be conducted 
under an ex-officio board, which shall be composed of the Governor, Su- 
perintendent of Public Instruction, and the President of the State Board 
of Education, who shall constitute a Board of Geological Survey. This 
Board is directed to “appoint and commission a suitable person, possessed 
of the requisite knowledge of the science of geology, who shall be Director 
of the Geological Survey hereby instituted.” The Director has, by cus- 
tom, since the passage of this law, been called the State Geologist. The 
act of 1905 establishing a biological survey reads in part, “that the 
Board of Geological Survey is hereby authorized and required to make, 
under the direction of the State Geologist appointed by them, a thorough 
biological survey of the state.” It appears then that the State Geologist 
referred to in the law of 1905 and the Director of the Geological Survey, 
the position established by law of 1869, are one and the same person, 
so we have, therefore, in this state as constituted at present, a Geological 
and Biological Survey under the direction of a Board of Geological Sur- 
vey and prosecuted under supervision of a Director, whose appointment 
and commission is provided for in the law of 1869 as amended and who is 
referred to in the law of 1905, establishing a biological survey, as a State 
Geologist. 
At a meeting of the Board of Scientific Advisers in April, 1910, it 
was recommended, and approved by the Director and the Board of Geo- 
logical Survey, that the organization be called the Michigan Geological 
and Biological Survey. 
The division of Biology is conducted under the direct charge of a Chief 
