154 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



the legislature to appoint a State Entomologist, naming B. D. Walsh 

 for the place. That honorable body, at the close of the regular ses- 

 sion for 1866-'7, passed a law creating the office of State Entomolo- 

 gist, with a salary of 12,000 per annum, he to be appointed by the 

 Governor, with the consent of the Senate, and for a period of two 

 years and until his successor is appointed and qualified. Owing, 

 probably to the late day at which the act was passed ( February 27, 

 1867), the Governor made no appointment. This society thereupon 

 passed the following resolution: 



" That the President of the society be authorized to engage Benj. D. 

 Walsh to immediately commence entomological investigations in relation to 

 horticulture; and he be empowered to pay out for that purpose a sum not 

 exceeding .'?500 from the legislative appropriation. This action is taken in 

 case of a failure. to appoint." 



At the special session held in June, 1867, the Governor sent in, 

 on the 11th of that month, the name of Mr. Walsh for confirma- 

 tion, but the Senate postponed all action upon it until the next 

 regular session, in the winter of 1868-9. The officers of the Agri- 

 cultural Society agreed in private to have the amount of the regular 

 salary appropriated to hini fromx the society's funds if he would con- 

 tinue with the duties of the office should the Legislature fail to 

 reimburse him. Acting on the advice of the leading men interested, 

 he took up the role of Acting State Entomologist, his first report 

 for 1867 consisting of 103 pages, illustrated by one plate containing 

 ten figures, appearing in your transactions for that year as an appen- 

 dix. This report is one of the most scholarly of any of the official 

 entomological publications ; and had it been properly illustrated 

 would have been a fitting rival to the classical work of Dr. Harris. 

 At the time of his death he was getting ready to write his second 

 report, which was to have added a fully illustrated edition of the 

 first, the whole to have contained about three thousand dollars' 

 worth of steel plate illustrations. In writing of his appointment 

 and labors during this period I have entered into detail to show that 

 it was owing almost entirely to the exertions of this society that the 

 office of State Entomologist of Illinois, which has done more than 

 that of any other State to fulfill the object for which it was con- 

 ceived, was created; and to it the credit belongs. 



In September, 1868, Mr. Walsh and his intimate friend, Mr. C. 

 V. Riley, began the publication of the American Entomologist^ with 

 which, no doubt, you are all familiar. Its columns contained articles 

 devoted mainly to entomology in its relation to horticulture and 

 agriculture. In these columns, and those of the Practical Entomol- 

 ogist he is seen at his best as an entomological writer; and from the 

 classic style of these articles he early acquired the sobriquet, " Prince 

 of Entomologists." 



While returning from the postoffice along the Chicago, Rock 

 Island and Pacific Railroad, Friday, November 12. 1869, he was run 



