154 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL.84 



scale, the State went wild on the subject of bringing over lieneficial 

 insects from Australia. The best* known and the most influential 

 horticulturist of the State, Mr. Elwood Cooper, of Santa Barbara, 

 allowed himself to go so far in his enthusiasm that he advocated the 

 non-use of any other measures and the devoting of enough money 

 to foreign expeditions for parasites and predators to accomplish " the 

 extermination " of all of California's insect pests. Mr. Cooper's 

 enthusiasm was so great that he was followed by almost every one, 

 the politicians from policy, and even the cautious people because of 

 his well founded reputation as a successful horticulturist. He him- 

 self eventually became Commissioner of Horticulture, and until his 

 death exercised a very great influence. 



There is no doubt that Mr. Cooper was an admirable man. I visited 

 him at his great olive ranch near Santa Barbara in 1898 and was 

 much impressed by his personality. His name was prominently men- 

 tioned for the position of United States Secretary of Agriculture a 

 little later, and had he been appointed to this position, his friends 

 said, he w^ould have immediately reorganized the entomological ser- 

 vice of the government and discharged every one who did not hold his 

 extreme views on the subject of natural control. Very fortunately 

 for economic entomology in the United States, this did not come 

 about. I saw him again years later (with his second wife) in the 

 horticultural offices in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. He was 

 cordial, and told me that he was writing a general book on the sub- 

 ject of natural control of insect pests of the orchard, and I surprised 

 him by telling him of the article in the Department of Agriculture 

 Report for 1880 in which the practical use of parasites of orchard 

 scale-insects was discussed. He had thought until that time that 

 natural control was a California invention. Not long after that meet- 

 ing he died, and his book was never published. It is a pity that in 

 the period following the dramatic results of the introduction of the 

 Australian ladybird a violent controversy arose between Professor 

 Riley in Washington and Mr. Cooper, and especially Mr. Frank 

 McCoppin who had been at the head of the American Commission at 

 the IVIelbourne Exposition, as to the personal credit to l:>e given for 

 the wonderful results of this introduction. So bitter was this con- 

 troversy that Mr. Cooper did not hesitate to decry all of the utter- 

 ances of the entomological force at Washington and greatly to 

 underestimate the value of its work. Mr. McCoppin was especially 

 bitter, and virtually claimed the whole credit for himself. It is true 

 that Koebele, drawing salary from the Department of Agriculture at 

 Washington, was sent to Australia at the expense of the fund appro- 



