62 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



condition of the Governmental collection of this attractive order 

 I would briefly invite your attention. 



Before 1876, when theNational Museum came into existence as 

 a sequel of the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, the Smith 

 sonian Institution was the depository of collections belonging to the 

 Government. But it never amassed a collection of insects, nor had 

 an entomologist on its staff'. In the early years, when Townend 

 Glover was acting as entomologist for the U. S. Government, some 

 material was collected, and there came in from the surveys for a 

 a Pacific railroad, the Geological and Geographical Surveys and 

 miscellaneous sources, sundry insects. This material became sub 

 sequently entirely dissipated. Some of it was reported upon in 

 Government publications by Stretch, Packard, Strecker, Grote 

 and others, but the majority of the material seems to have re 

 mained in the private collections of those so reporting. Certainly 

 all that is at present left of the Lepidoptera in the Government's, 

 possession are a few specimens returned at a recent date by Dr. 

 A. S. Packard. 



In 1882 a department of insects was organized in the National 

 Museum with Dr. C. V. Riley as honorary curator, without any 

 assistance. The number of insects of all orders was estimated at 

 1,000, of which, perhaps, 200 may have been Lepidoptera, a most 

 insignificant figure. More specimens than this could be taken by 

 an active collector in a single day. We may well consider that 

 at this date the national collection of Lepidoptera first began. 



The first collection of any importance received was that of Dr. 

 Riley. It was formally presented in 1885. It contained 17,000 

 specimens of Lepidoptera, besides 3,000 larvas in alcohol and a 

 few inflated larvas. All the material was North American, with 

 the most trifling exceptions, and principally amassed by Riley 

 himself from the Southern States. 



In 1886 Dr. J. B. Smith was appointed assistant curator. He 

 brought with him his private collection, which was acquired by 

 the National Museum by purchase. It contained a general collec 

 tion of North American Lepidoptera most full in the family Noc- 

 tuidas, Dr. Smith's specialty. I find no exact record of the num 

 ber of specimens in the collection, though it probably approached 

 15,000, and included the material of Mr. Meske, mostly collected 

 about Albany, N. Y. During this time various smaller accessions 



