MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
117 
The first regular meeting of this society in December, 1804, was the 
occasion of the compilation by the wiriter of a new catalogue, which 
brought the number of listed species up to 284. A recent list prepared 
for the present meeting of the Academy recognizes 301 species as repre- 
sented in our fauna. 
The great increase in general knowledge in regard to our mollusca 
that has accrued during the seventy years that have elapsed since the first 
catalogue was published by Sager, while adding many new species to 
our fauna, has also thrown into the synonymy many of the species listed 
as valid by the early writers, so that the actual increase of our knowl- 
edge of the extent of the fauna of the state has been greater than would 
appear from the face of the returns. Eliminating all doubtful ‘citations 
and synonyms, the growth of the known fauna of the state during that 
time is shown by the following summary: 
Sager 1839 68 species. 
Miles 1860 139 “ 
Currier 1868 149 “ 
DeCamp 1881 185 “ 
Walker 1894 250 “ 
Walker 1911 301 “ 
The organization of the Academy in 1S94, which has done so much 
for the advancement of science in the state, had its influence on our local 
conchologv. In 1896 the Conchological Section was organized and 
through the influence thus exerted, a complete census of all the records 
of Michigan species contained in all of the public and private collections 
of the state was compiled and now forms an invaluable record for all 
future time. 
As is necessarily the case in the development of all new territory, the 
work of the early collectors of the state was collecting, pure and simple, 
the gathering and identification of material from all possible sources. 
And it is only of recent years that any attempt has been made to study 
our fauna as a whole and in connection with the faunas of the adjacent 
regions, to work out the various problems in distribution that presented 
themselves. Indeed, it was not possible to take up this phase of the 
work, until a sufficient amount of collecting had been done in all parts 
of the state to give a reasonably accurate knowledge of the extent of the 
fauna and the approximate range of, at least, the leading genera and 
species. Bricks cannot be made without straw and generalizing on in- 
sufficient data is always dangerous business. To these early collectors, 
then, is to be given the credit of laying the foundations of that detailed 
knowledge of our fauna that enables 1 us of the present generation, with 
our greater knowledge of faunal relations, to build our theories of dis- 
tribution. And, if their light was small, they did their work well ac- 
cording to the light they had and we are now reaping the fruits of their 
labors. 
The establishment of the Biological Survey in 1905, after many years 
of strenuous endeavor on the part of the Academy, has resulted in large 
and rapid advances in our knowledge of the fauna of the state and of 
the distribution of many of the species. 
The completion of the .survey of Isle Royale, the exploration of the 
practically unknown district of Huron county, the work in the Meuom- 
