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by the former constant stream of interviewers and assistants, 

 he intended to pass the rest of his life, working upon the many 

 scientific problems which had suggested themselves to him and 

 which he had set aside for investigation when such a time should 

 come. His accidental death in a little more than a year and 

 before he had time to fairly concentrate himself upon the con 

 genial work to which he had looked forward all of his life is a 

 shocking example of the irony of fate. 



An important point which has not been mentioned by any of 

 his biographers may be briefly considered, viz : which of his 

 numerous works was considered by Riley himself as the principal 

 achievement of his life? The writers of these lines, associated 

 with him for many years, have at various times conversed with 

 him upon this subject ; the last time was only a few days before 

 his death, and he always pointed to his Missouri Reports as his 

 principal work. That he earnestly believed this cannot be 

 doubted by any one who has heard him speak, either at the 

 meetings of this Society or at the meetings of the Biological 

 Society of Washington. How often has he used the expression, 



44 As I have shown in my Missouri Report," and how often 



in his subsequent writings did he quote passages from these 

 Missouri Reports ! Every worker on the biology of North 

 American insects and every worker in economic entomology 

 must candidly confess that these Missouri Reports are the most 

 indispensable works of reference and that they are overflowing 

 and never failing sources of information. More than twenty 

 years have lapsed since the publication of the final volume of the 

 series and they still remain as standards, and practically not only 

 as the most necessary handbooks of workers, but as models for 

 the younger generation. 



It is true that he had predecessors in the field covered. Harris' 

 classical treatise on the Injurious Insects of Massachusetts is a 

 most charming account of a number of North American insects 

 and possibly unsurpassed as an introduction to the study of ento 

 mology for the beginner, but nowhere does it enter deeply into 

 the subject of the biology of individual species with the practical 

 end in view. Fitch's reports, the most important of which had 

 been published at the time Riley began to write, are also ventures 



