whole vol. applied entomology howard 43 



Asa Fitch, the First State Entomologist 



The first scientific man to receive an official commission for the 

 investigation of injurious insects from a State was Dr. Asa Fitch of 

 New York. During- its session of 1853-54, the New York State Leg- 

 islature made an appropriation of $1,000 for an examination of 

 insects, especially of those injurious to vegetation, and authorized 

 the appointment of a suitahle person tO' perform the work. The New 

 York State Agricultural Society was charged with the appointment 

 and with the supervision of the appointee. At a meeting of the execu- 

 tive committee of this Society, May 4, 1854, the following resolu- 

 tion was passed : 



Resolved, That Asa Fitch, M. D., of Washington County, be appointed to per- 

 form the work ; that he be furnished with such accommodations as he may desire 

 in the rooms appointed for the laboratory in charge of the Society ; and that the 

 President and Mr. Johnson, the Corresponding Secretary, be a committee to pre- 

 pare instructions for such entomological examinations. 



The last clause in this resolution seems rather ahsurd. That 

 Mr. William Kelly, at that time President of the New York State 

 Agricultural Society, and Mr. ]]. F. Johnson, its Corresponding Sec- 

 retary, should be capable of preparing instructions for Doctor Fitch 

 is unbelievable. Nevertheless, the instructions signed by these gen- 

 tlemen were adinirable, and I have not the slightest doubt that Doc- 

 tor Fitch drew them up himself, with the exception of one sentence 

 which reads, " The committee feel assured that in the selection of 

 Doctor Fitch they have secured a person every way competent to dis- 

 charge the duties imposed, in a manner creditable to the Society and 

 the State." The confidence of the committee was very well placed, 

 but the quoted sentence could hardly have been written by Doctor 

 Fitch himself. 



At that time Doctor Fitch was 44 years old. He had passed his 

 boyhood on a farm, was attracted first to botany and later to zoology, 

 finally concentrating on entomology. He graduated in medicine in 

 1829, and was admitted to practice a little later. All through his medi- 

 cal studies he continued work on entomology, and his medical prac- 

 tice was followed for seven years only. From 1838 to the time of 

 his appointment as official entomologist, he occupied himself with 

 agriculture in addition to his studies of insects, corresponding with 

 European naturalists and building up a great stock of knowledge. 



While not officially designated as State Entomologist of New York, 

 he was always given that title by courtesy, and continued in office 

 until 1871 or 1872 when his Fourteenth Report was published and 

 when his health and his sight began to fail. The reports were pub- 



