172 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



LECTURE ON ENTOMOLOGY. 



BY PROF. C. V. RILEY, STATE ENTOMOLOGIST OF MISSOURI. 



The following lecture was delivered before the Society on the even- 

 ing of the second day of the meeting, but a copy of it was not 'furnished 

 the Secretary in time for insertion in its proper place : 



Ladies and Gentlemen : It gives me pleasure to speak again to my 

 horticultural friends in Illinois, to enjoy anew their dearly-prized com- 

 pany. Your Corresponding Secretary invited me to lecture before you. 

 I have had no time to prepare any thing Avorthy to be called a lecture, 

 but I will endeavor to entertain you in a very informal way. I may state, 

 by way of prelude, that questions do not in the least annoy or disconcert 

 me, and I shall be glad to answer any that maybe asked. 



My text will be, two of our insects, which are very important — one. 

 the codling moth, which has been frequently treated of and discussed at 

 the gatherings of this Society ; the other, the grape phylloxera, which is 

 not so well understood by the members of this Society. 



Eight years ago, I wrote my maiden essay for this Society, on the 

 codling moth. It was read by that veteran horticulturist who has been 

 carrying on his investigations this last summer in Germany and Austria — 

 and whose presence we all miss here to night — Dr. Waters. To the kind 

 approval which that essay met, I owe no little of '^that enthusiasm which 

 has, since that time, sustained me in my efforts to unlock nature's secrets. 

 I am proud to say that there was not a single fault of commission in that 

 article ; but since then we have learned much that was then unknown 

 about this codling moth. 



I will present to you the more important facts ; I cannot give you a 

 full account. It would occupy more time than we shall have to-night. 



J^t'rst — This codling moth is an imported insect. There was a time 

 when it had no existence in this land, and it furnishes us with an excel- 

 lent illustration^^of the importance'of preventing the importation of noxious 

 insects. If we had had the knowledge we now have, we might easily have 

 prevented its introduction, thus saving the immense loss which it has 

 caused. The mellowing and vivifying influence of the vernal year causes 

 our codling moth to burst the silken cerements which had held and en- 

 wrapped it during its long winter torpor and sleep. After meeting her 

 mate, the female flits from tree to tree, and deposits her eggs in the calyx 

 of the new-formed fruit. 



I have here a sketch showing the different stages through 

 which it goes. In a few days, this egg produces an insect which 

 makes for the heart of the young fruit. There it riots around 

 the core, causing perforations and excavations filled with its own 

 excrement. It takes about twenty or thirty days to attain its full 

 growth. It has then changed color, and the head and cervical 



