THE ROTIFER FAUNA OF WISCONSIN 
H. K. Harking and F. J. Myers 
Notes from the Biological Laboratory of the Wisconsin Geological and 
Natural History Survey. XX. 
Introduction 
Some years ago Mr. Chancey Juday, biologist of the Wisconsin 
Geological and Natural History Survey, suggested to the writers 
the advisability of undertaking a study of the rotifer fauna of 
Wisconsin. As few states of the Union are more favored by na¬ 
ture with opportunities for collecting material, we gladly promised 
to do all that we could to make a preliminary survey, sufficiently 
detailed to serve local students as a basis for continuation of the 
work. Mr. Juday enlisted the cooperation of Dr. E. A. Birgc, 
president of the Board of Commissioners of the Survey and of the 
University of Wisconsin. We take this opportunity to express 
our gratitude to Mr. Juday and Dr. Birge, not only for essential 
material aid, but for their deep personal interest and ever ready 
cooperation, without which our part of the Avork could not have 
been done. 
While field work is still in progress, so much material has al¬ 
ready been accumulated that a preliminary report is desirable. 
We hope eventually to be able to publish figures and complete de¬ 
scriptions of all the rotifers found in Wisconsin. This is made 
all the more desirable by the fact that the North American rotifer 
fauna has never been made the subject of an intensive study, and 
the determination of material is consequently an exceedingly 
laborious undertaking, necessitating access to, and study of, publi¬ 
cations from all over the world. Moreover, a new standard for 
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