42 
FOURTEENTH REPORT. 
REPORT OF THE CHIEF NATURALIST. 1 
BY ALEXANDER G. RUTH YEN. 
Mr. President and Members of the Academy: 
The biological work carried on by the survey since the last report to 
the Academy may be divided into field work, the preparation of manu- 
scripts, and the publication of reports and papers. 
During the field season of 1011, we had six persons in the field for 
various periods of time. It seemed advisable to finish the Charity 
Island work of 1910, so that the other work was necessarily scattered, 
as our funds are far too small to permit us to send men to several 
localities for more than a short time, unless we choose places, where, 
for one reason or another, particular persons can work cheaply. 
Mr. F. C. Gates investigated the flora of the Douglas Lake region. 
He spent live weeks in the field, and secured about 1,500 specimens, 
representing nearly 500 species, and a large amount of notes. 
Mr. Orrin J. Wenzel studied the mammals of Osceola County in Aug- 
ust and September, greatly increasing our knowledge of the fauna both 
by notes and specimens. 
.Mr. X. A. Wood was sent to the Charity Islands, Lake Huron, to study 
the resident birds, thus supplementing the work of the Mershon Expedi- 
tion of last year. He spent four weeks on the islands in July and ob- 
tained the material for an extensive report. The Chief Naturalist visited 
the Charity Islands in July to complete the work on the reptiles and 
amphibians, and Miss Crystal Thompson and Miss Helen Thompson 
were sent over from Port Austin in August to make a set of photographs 
of the habitats, to be used in the reports. 
The manuscripts in preparation are from two sources. Some are 
the results of field work done for (he survey, and others have been pre- 
pared independently and submitted to us for publication. We have com- 
pleted and awaiting publication the following reports: 
Crystal Thompson and Helen Thompson on the amphibians of Michi- 
igan; A. G. Ruthven and Frances Dunbar on the reptiles of the state; 
F. C. Gates on the flora of the Douglas Lake region; O. J. Wenzel on 
the mammals of Osceola County; N. A. Wood on the breeding birds of 
the Charity Islands; Crystal Thompson and Helen Thompson on the 
amphibians and reptiles of the Charity Islands; C. K. Dodge on the 
plants of Lambton County, Ontario; Harlan 1. Smith on a bibliography 
of Michigan archaeology, and W. W. Newcomb on a checklist of Mich- 
igan butterflies. 
During the coming year we will also have completed A. W. Andrews’ 
exhaustive report on the Coleoptera of Charity Island, the report by 
C. H. Kauffman and L. H. Pennington on the botanical studies in 
southeastern Michigan in 1910, C. H. Kauffman’s monograph on the 
'Rear! at the general session of the Michigan Academy of Science, March 27, 1912. 
