88 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 84 



During the winter of 1879-80, fearing the effect of cold weather 

 in Washington, and also seeing the necessity for an investigation 

 of insects affecting Citrus trees in Florida, Comstock went to Florida, 

 and there became interested in the scale insects, an interest which 

 continued for two or more years and resulted in the publication, in 

 his annual report for 1880, of a consideration of the scale insects, 

 published as Part 2 of the report, which was the most thorough and 

 extensive work of this kind that had been published in the English 

 language and which formed a sound basis as well as an incentive for 

 the vigorous investigations of the insects of this group which con- 

 tinued in the United States for many years. The life history studies 

 were very largely made by Pergande. 



The preparation of this report had a vivid personal interest to the 

 writer, since appended to it as Part 3 was published a report on the 

 parasites of the Coccidae in the collection of the Department, which 

 was the first paper I was permitted to sign. 



As it happened, there was no one in the United States at that time 

 working upon the smaller Chalcidoidea (E. T. Cresson had described 

 many of the larger forms in the genera Chalcis and Smicra). And so 

 I took up the study of the smaller and neglected forms. Incidentally, 

 in this report I pointed out the ease with which the parasites of Coc- 

 cidae could be transported from one region where they abounded to 

 regions in which they were absent or scarce. It was one of the earliest 

 of the suggestions of this character. 



Having become interested in Citrus insects and esjiecially in scale 

 insects, Professor Comstock went to California in the summer of 

 1880, and during his absence Prof. C. H. Fernald came to Washing- 

 ton as an agent of the Service to work on certain Tortricids which 

 we had been studying ; and Dr. William Trelcase also spent the 

 summer with us writing up reports on observations he had made 

 during the previous summer as an agent of the Department, on cotton 

 insects. 



In November of that year Garfield was elected President, to take 

 office the following 4th of March. In those days, before the passage 

 of the Civil Service law, a change in the President meant a change 

 in a very great many offfces. No one felt sure of holding his posi- 

 tion. Personal congressional influence was sought for and relied 

 upon. No one working under the government at the present time 



malicious pleasure of presenting in the second report arguments favoring the 

 view that it is simply a scavenger, in opposition to the conclusion in the first 

 report that it is a true parasite, knowing all the while that my name would not be 

 allowed to appear as author of either chapter. 



