WHOLE VOL. APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY HOWARD 1 5 



I had the pleasure of meeting Thomas in the winter of 1878 when 

 he visited Washington for consultation with Riley concerning the 

 operations of the Entomological Commission. He was a keen-faced, 

 kindly man. The years dealt kindly with him, and he was not greatly 

 changed when years later he called at my office, long after he had lost 

 his interest in entomology. At the time, he was 84 years of age, but 

 mentally as active as ever. He came in to suggest the idea that cer- 

 tain non-migratory grasshoppers, after a succession of dry seasons, 

 grow longer wings and become migratory. He went on to say, " J. G. 

 Morris came into my laboratory once years ago when Darwin's book 

 on the origin of species was first making such a stir, and while he was 

 objecting to the whole idea of evolution, I told him about the grass- 

 hoppers ; and he said, ' Thomas, what are we coming to ? ' " You can 

 imagine the scene : these two ex-ministers of the Gospel, having the 

 advantage of other members of the cloth in being naturalists, puz- 

 zling their brains already in the effort to harmonize the facts of 

 nature with the teachings of the church. 



In the year i860 three new writers on economic entomology ap- 

 peared. The first was Benjamin D. Walsh, of Illinois, a man of 

 extraordinary ability as an ol^server, as a writer, and a philosopher. 

 His influence upon the development of economic entomology in the 

 United States was so great that special consideration will be given 

 to him in a subsequent section. 



Thomas Meehan, whose first entomological paper appeared in i860, 

 wrote principally for the Gardeners Monthly. He was an Englishman 

 l:)y birth and was trained as a horticulturist at Kew Gardens. He 

 came to America at the age of 22 (in 1848) and remained for the 

 rest of his life at Philadelphia. He held the position of State Botanist 

 in Philadelphia and was a member of the Board of Visitors of Har- 

 vard University. His first entomological publication related to red 

 spider on pear trees. Apparently he wrote nothing of importance in 

 this direction during the next 10 years, but beginning with 1870 he 

 published frequently in the Gardeners Monthly about different insect 

 pests until 1877. 



The third writer beginning to publish in i860 was Dr. S. S. 

 Rathvon, of Lancaster, Pa. He was a tailor by trade, but was a born 

 naturalist and had collected and studied insects from early youth. 

 His serious work with entomology began when Prof. S. S. Haldeman 

 discovered that he was interested in insects. His first published paper 

 on economic entomology did not appear until he was 42 years old. 

 It was entitled " Entomological Essay " and was read before the 

 Fruit Growers Association of Eastern Pennsylvania in June, i860. 



