36S MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTUKAl. SoCIETV. 



writings and of his illustrations, has caused them to be much quoted and 

 used by all subsequent writers on economic entomology, both here and 

 in all parts of the world. 



But Prof. Riley is essentially an investigator. He delights in 

 original research, and will spend years in ascertaining some fact or es- 

 tablishing some truth in his chosen specialty. He accumulated and 

 arranged his private collection of insects, consisting of over 1 50,000 

 specimens representing some 30,000 species, during these years of labor, 

 and has arranged for its permanent location in the National Museum at 

 Washington. "Though .several special collections surpass it in a single 

 order, few, if any, general collections of North American insects equal 

 it, and perhaps none from a biological point of view." He also, while 

 State Entomologist, prepared a cabinet of sixty drawers for your own 

 state, which now^ is in the State Agricultural College, at Columbia, and 

 easily accessible to the citizens of Missouri interested in entomology. 



Prof. Riley is member of all the prominent scientific societies, do- 

 mestic and foreign, and also of most of the state and local horticultural 

 societies. He was lecturer on entomology at Cornell University, Kansas 

 State Agricultural College, Missouri State University, and Washington 

 University, at St. Louis. In 1872 the Kansas State Agricultural College 

 conferred upon him honorary degree of A. M., and the following year he 

 received the degree of Ph. D. from the Mis.souri State University. He has 

 made four trips to Europe since his first arrival here, partly for recre- 

 ation and partly for the purpose of making special investigations. 



Of the practical fruits of his labors it would be difficult to form an 

 estimate; but in reference to all the more important enemies of Amer- 

 ican agriculture, he has been among the first to anticipate the farmers' 

 wants and the most successful in supplying them. 



The qualities that are especially developed in Prof Riley are an un- 

 tiring energy and power of application; an intense love of system and 

 order; remarkable powers of observation, great versatility, and a strong 

 hatred of all kinds of imposture and charlatanism. With exceptional ad- 

 ministrative capacity, he yet looks into the minutest details. Abhorring 

 loose or careless work, he permits none in those under him. Ambitious, 

 critical and industrious himself, he works with and in.spires his assistants. 

 He has, by careful selection, gathered around him a corps of assistants 

 remarkable for their special fitness for the work they have in hand. 



Prof, Riley married, in 1878, Miss Emelie G. Conzelman, daughter 

 of G. Conzelman, Esq., a most respected citizen of St. Louis. 



In personal appearance, Prof. Riley is above the average in height, 

 of a bilious, nervous temperament, dark complexion, rather spare and 



