tHE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 437 



absorbing interest in everything tliat lives and grows, his warm heart, his 

 cheeriness, his perfect lack of even a suspicion of egotism, attracted every 

 one who knew him, and bound them to him in friendship, and even love, 

 forever. Here in Washington among the entomologists and others there 

 are many sad hearts to-day." 



DR. WILLIAM H. ASHMEAD. 



On the 17th of October, Dr. William Harris Ashmead died in Wash- 

 ington, D. C, aged 53 years. For more than a year he was in such 

 an unsatisfactory state of health that his recovery appeared impossible, 

 and it was therefore no surprise to learn that the end had at last arrived. 

 His breakdown in the midst of a career of scientific usefulness was 

 evidently brought about by overwork ; he devoted himself with such 

 intensity to the study of the Hymenoptera and the publication of the 

 results that he gave himself no rest, and literally wore himself out, to the 

 grief and distress of his family and many friends. 



For close upon thirty years he was a constant contributor to the pages 

 of this magaz-ze, his first articles on insects afitecting the orange having 

 appeared in 1879. At that time he lived in Jacksonville, Florida, where 

 he was engaged in the publishing business, which included the issue of a 

 daily paper and a weekly agricultural journal. He was naturally much 

 interested in the i~>roduction of oranges, and his attention thus became 

 drawn to the insects injuring the trees and fruit, and those parasitic forms 

 that somewhat kept them in check. His work was so thorough that he 

 was made a field entomologist for the United States Department of 

 Agriculture in 1887, and began his career as a professional entomologist. 



In 1890 he went to Germany and studied for some time in Berlin, 

 thus becoming qualified for the performance of scientific work of a high 

 character. In July, 1897, he was appointed a Curator of the Department 

 of Insects in the U. S. National Museum at Washington, and continued 

 to hold the position till incapacitated by illness. 



In October, 1904, he was elected an honorary member of the Ento- 

 mological Society of Ontario in recognition of his eminence in the science 

 and the valuable contributions that he so constantly made to the pages of 

 the Canadian Entomologist. His studies were devoted to the Hymen- 

 optera, and he published many systematic papers on various superfamilies 

 in the order and described a large number of genera and species. His 

 work was of such a high character that it is regarded as authoritative, and 



