OBITUARY. 



CHARLES VALENTINE RILEY. 



Born September i8, 1843. Died September 14, 1895. 



THE man of science and the practical cultivator may well unite in 

 mourning the death, through a lamentable cycling accident, of 

 this prince of economic entomologists. Though his life-work was 

 almost entirely done in America, Riley was English by birth — a 

 native of London. Educated at Chelsea, Dieppe, and Bonn, he 

 emigrated to the United States in i860 and settled on a farm in 

 Illinois. The practical experience thus gained was of the highest 

 importance when he came later on to apply scientific principles to 

 agricultural questions. In his early days in America he worked as a 

 journalist and took part in the War of Secession. In 1868, he was 

 appointed State Entomologist of Missouri, and the nine annual reports 

 issued while he held this post mark an epoch in the economic study 

 of insects. Like his subsequent writings, these reports are charac- 

 terised by scientific accuracy coupled with clear and popular expo- 

 sition ; and while of special value to the farmer, fruit-grower, and 

 forester, they abound with observations of interest to the pure 

 naturalist. In 1877, Riley was appointed Chief of the U.S. 

 Entomological Commission, and a year later Entomologist to the 

 Department of Agriculture at Washington. This post he resigned 

 somewhat quickly, but was re-appointed to it in 1881. He then 

 organised the Division of Entomology, from which has issued an 

 invaluable series of publications on the application of entomology to 

 practical ends. Riley will be specially remembered for his researches 

 on Phylloxera, and his successful use of the natural enemies of insect- 

 destroyers of crops for waging against them an exterminating warfare. 

 The introduction of the ladybird Vedalia from Australia to California 

 to prey upon the previously-introduced coccid Icevya was one of the 

 most notable examples of this. Besides his economic work, Riley 

 acted as curator of insects in the U.S. National Museum, and edited 

 the American Entomologist. In June of last year he resigned his posts 

 through failing health and an impression that he could work more 

 effectively if free from the trammels of office. Regret will be universal 

 that the labours of his well-earned leisure have been brought to so 

 untimely an end. G. H. C. 



JOHN ELLOR TAYLOR. 

 Born September 23, 1835. Died September 30, 1895. 



DR. TAYLOR was born at Levenshulme, near Manchester, and 

 was the son of a foreman in a cotton factory. He began life 

 in the engineers' shop of the London and North Western Railway at 



