90 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



report contains a full and comparativelv exhaustive treatment of the subject of the insects 

 injurious to forest and shade trees. The first, second and third reports are published 

 under the joint authorship of the three commissioners, the fourth under the sole author- 

 ship of Prof. Eiley, and the fifth under the sole authorship of Dr. Packard. 



Illinois. During the regular session of the legislature of Illinois, in the winter of 

 1868-'67, a law was passed enacting that a State entomologist shall, "by and with the 

 consent of the senate, be appointed by the governor with a salary of $2,000 per 

 annum, for a period of two years, or until his successor is appointed and qualified." 

 This legislation was the result of a petition from the State Horticultural Society, 

 and on May 21, 1867, the society passed the following resolution : 



That the president of the society be authorized to engage B. D. Walsh to immediately commence 

 entomological investigations in relation to horticulture, and be empowered to pay out for that purpose a 

 sum not exceeding $500 from the legislative appropriation. This action is taken in case of failure to 

 appoint. 



At a special session of the legislature held in June, 1867, the governor sent in the 

 name of Mr. Walsh for confirmation, but the senate postponed action upon it until the 

 next regular biennial session in the winter of 1868 '69. Hence it follows that Mr. 

 Walsh's first and only report was published as acting State entomologist, his untimely 

 death occuring before his second report was prepared, its preparation having been 

 delayed by a long period of ill-health which preceded the railway accident which was the 

 immediate cause of his demise. Mr. Walsh was a retired farmer and lumber dealer of 

 English university training, who for a number of years prior to his appointment had been 

 industriously studying entomology and had written largely for the agricultural press^ 

 npon the subject of injurious insects. Although not a naturalist by training, his work 

 showed extraordinary powers of observation, and his published writings, as well as the 

 statements of his contemporaries, indicate that he possessed a remarkable mind. In this 

 connection, however, we have occasion to speak only of his official work as indicated in hia 

 one report. In this report, which is now unfortunately very rare, he treated particularly 

 of the insects afiecting the grape, the apple and the plum, and to this added, under the 

 head of " Insects affecting garden crops generally," a chapter on the so-called " hateful 

 grasshopper," or migratory locust, {Caloptenns spretus). His treatment of the other insects 

 is very thorough and his work in a large part remains standard to-day. 



Mr Walsh's successor. Dr. William Le Baron, a practising physician of Geneva, III., 

 well known for his writings on injurious insects in the agricultural journals of the time, 

 and an able and conscientious entomologist, published four reports as appendices to 

 the Transactions of the State Horticultural Society, from 1871 to 1874. The first three 

 treated of miscellaneous insects, mainly those injurious to fruit and fruit-trees, while his 

 fourth report, and part of his third, consisted of the beginnings of a work entitled Out- 

 lines of Entomology, of which he completed only the order Coleoptera. This portion 

 however, was executed in the most scientific manner, and was fully illustrated, largely 

 by original drawings by Prof. Riley. It has since been used to some extent in the 

 class room, and has undoubledly been the means of interesting many students in the 

 subject of entomology. Dr. LeBaron's treatment of insects from the economic standpoint 

 was careful and practical. He records in his first report the first successful experiment 

 in the transportation of parasites of an injurious species from one locality to another, and 

 in his second report recommended the use of Pans green against the canker-worm on 

 apple trees, the legitimate outcome from which has been the extensive use of the 

 same substance against the codling moth, which may safely be called one of the great 

 discoveries in economic entomology of late years. 



Dr. LeBaron died in harness, I believe, and was succeeded in office by the Rev. 

 Cyrus Thomas, of Carbondale, who published a series of six reports, extending over the 

 years 1875 to 1880. Mr. Thomas at the time of his appointment was a well-known 

 entomologist, who had written extensively for the "Prairie Farmer" and other agricultural 

 newspapers on the subject of economic entomology, and who had published an elabor- 

 ate monograph of the Acridiida^ of the United States as one of the special volumes 

 of the Hayden survey of the Territories. He started with his fir&t report, a manual 



