300 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



close application to the duties of his position as reporter, delineator and 

 editor of the entomological department of this paper, he devoted his 

 tirrie and energies to the study of botany and entomology. His industry 

 and versatility soon made him, not only popular with his associates on 

 the paper, but gave him a wide-spread and favored reputation as a writer 

 upon natural history, especially on his specialty of economic entomolo- 

 gy, the importance of which he soon made apparent. His connection 

 with the paper continued until the spring of 1868, (interrupted from 

 May, 1864, to November of the same year, when he was with his com- 

 pany, 134th Illinois,) when he accepted the office of state entomologist of 

 your own state, then recently created, chiefly through the efforts of our 

 present distinguished Commmissioner of Agriculture, the Hon. N. J. 

 Colman. 



In his new position in Missouri, Prof. Riley found full scope for his 

 peculiar abilities, and soon earned a world-wide reputation as an original 

 investigator, and a keen, versatile writer, not only on his favorite spec- 

 ialty, but on various practical subjects connected with education and ag- 

 riculture. 'Putting heart and soul into the work, he labored for nine 

 years with no assistance other than his salary, paying his own expenses, 

 even to illustrating his reports, at the same time contending with much 

 ignorant opposition and ridicule from the legislature. During this peri- 

 od of time, his investigations upon the insects then injurious, especially 

 those made from 1873 to 1877, on the Rocky Mountain Locust and 

 Grape Phylloxera, attracted the attention of scientists and agricultural- 

 ists all over the world, and he was the recipient of many valuable tes- 

 timonials, one a grand, gold medal, designed and cast for the occasion, 

 being presented by the French Republic, in 1873, to show its apprecia- 

 tion of his discoveries. His nine reports, familiar to you all, owe their 

 value in no small degree to the fact that they are replete with the re- 

 sults of original research, and of newly discovered facts in the life his- 

 tories of most of our common insects, together with practical informa- 

 tion for controlling them. Accuracy and popularity are combined in 

 these works, which have come to be looked upon as indispensible to the 

 working entomologist and the successful agriculturalist. Encomiums 

 from the highest authorities might be quoted with reference to these re- 

 ports; but they are too well known to require such in this place. 



Upon the passage of the bill authorizing the creation of the United 

 States Entomological Commission in connection with Dr. F. B. Hayden's 

 geological survey in the west, Prof. Riley was chosen as chief, and 

 upon his recommendation. Secretary Schurz appointed Dr. A. S. Packard 

 and Prof. Cyrus Thomas, both eminent entomologists, as his associates. 



