1 86 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, 



IT will be of interest to the entomologists of the United States to learn 

 that the University of Kansas has recently acquired by purchase the en- 

 tire collection of North American Diptera, including the types made by 

 Prof. Townsend. The collection will make an especially valuable addi- 

 tion to the already very large collection of American Diptera, by far the 

 largest in existence, now at the University of Kansas. The University 

 collection now includes between twenty-five and thirty thousand speci- 

 mens, and between four and five thousand species. The resources of the 

 University, under the able administration of Chancellor Snow, and aided 

 by his son, Mr. W. A. Snow, will enable this collection to be soon put in 

 order, permitting for the first time the easy and ready determination of 

 collections. An expedition to the southwest, especially for the collection 

 of Diptera, is contemplated the present season, which, it is hoped, will 

 add from five to ten thousand specimens to the collections. 



S. W. WILLISTON. 



AN OPEN LETTER FROM DR. RILEY. To friends and correspondents : 

 Inasmuch as a press despatch, inspired by other motives than love of 

 truth, has given wide circulation to a false statement in regard to my re- 

 cent resignation as Entomologist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 and inasmuch as I am receiving more-letters of regret and inquiry than 

 can well be responded to in writing, this printed form is employed to save 

 time in answering letters and to correct any misconception of the facts. 



As shown by the text of the letter addressed by me to the Secretary 

 of Agriculture in resigning office, the action was prompted by a due re- 

 gard for the wishes of my family, for my health, and for my peace of 

 mind; and, as intimate friends well knew, it had been contemplated for 

 some time. It was taken without suggestion from, or consultation with, 

 the Secretary of Agriculture or anyone else, and, since resignation of 

 government office is so often looked upon as practical dismissal, I took 

 particular pains to state these facts. 



To those who may feel regret at this course, or who have already ex- 

 pressed it, let me say that I was never much in love with Department 

 life, as, under the most favorable circumstances, there are many unpleas- 

 ant features connected with it to one ambitious to achieve results and 

 impatient of political methods, unnecessary red tape or needless restric- 

 tions. 



Many years of activity in the position which I am about to leave have 

 resulted in impaired health, and I have simply taken a step which ought 

 to have been taken long ago. To those who feel interested in my future 

 let me say that for a while I shall make no definite plans, but that I can 

 never lose interest in the subject of entomology. Relieved of the ad- 

 ministrative detail and drudgery connected with the office, I hope, in con- 

 nection with the honorary curatorship of the Department of Insects in the 

 U. S. National Museum, to be able to do some long contemplated work 

 of a purely scientific character. My address in future will, therefore, be, 



