WHOLE VOL. APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY HOWARD 2$ 



on account of its liability to injure domestic animals. He died in Ger- 

 many in 1903. He was not only an entomologist of high rank, but a 

 philosopher, a writer, a poet, and a musician of accomplishments. 



In 1872, C. E. Bessey, Mary E. Murtfeldt, and D. B. Wier en- 

 tered the field. Professor Bessey became a famous botanist and, 

 toward the end of his life, the President of the University of 

 Nebraska and President of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science. In his early days he was living in Iowa and 

 wrote II papers treating of applied entomology, his first article treat- 

 ing of the Colorado potato beetle. Between 1871 and 1875 he pre- 

 pared and published four reports on injurious insects — the first two 

 published by the State Horticultural Society of Iowa and the last two 

 by the State Agricultural Society of Iowa. D. B. Wier was a fruit- 

 grower who published only four articles. His principal contribution 

 was entitled " Native Plums. How to Fruit Them. They are Claimed 

 to be Practically Curculio Proof." This was published in Bulletin 14 

 of the Division of Entomology of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture. 



Miss Mary E. Murtfeldt was an amateur entomologist who lived 

 at Kirkwood, Missouri. She was an educated, charming lady, who 

 met Professor Riley when he first went to Missouri in 1868 and who 

 was much influenced by him in her entomological studies. Later 

 when he came to Washington she was made a field agent of the 

 Bureau and wrote several reports on the insects of that part of the 

 country. Beginning with a short paper published in the Canadian 

 Entomologist for August, 1872, she continued to write on different 

 topics nearly until her death in 191 3. Aside from economic ento- 

 mology, she was particularly interested in the study of the leaf-roll- 

 ing caterpillars (family Tortricidae). 



It is generally forgotten that Dr. John L. Leconte, the great coleop- 

 terist, wrote eight papers on topics relating to economic entomology, 

 and that as early as 1873 he published a paper entitled " Hints for 

 the Promotion of Economic Entomology in the United States." 

 • In 1874 the first entomological papers by F. M. Webster, T. J. 

 Burrill, E. W. Claypole, A. W. HofTmeister, and H. G. Hubbard 

 were published. Webster's was a short article in a Chicago news- 

 paper, but his first article of importance was not published until 

 1880 when his interesting " Note on the Food of Predaceous Beetles " 

 was printed. He was a farmer's son, and at first a farmer himself, 

 and he became an entomologist from the necessity of studying farm 

 pests. He was not a college-trained man, but was a keen observer, 

 and eventually became one of the most prominent figures in Ameri- 

 3 



