1895. ) 209 



XXV, p. 412) ; a second in Kerry, recorded by Mr. H. N. Ridley (Ent. Mo. Mag., 

 vol. XX, p. 215) ; and tlie third at Trstead in Norfolk in 1892, and recorded by Mr. 

 Eland Shaw {vide Ent., vol. xxv, p. 294). In July, 1895, it occurred in abundance 

 in the AVest of Ireland, as recorded in The Irish Naturalist, vol. iv, pp. 228 and 258, 

 by Mr. G. H. Carpenter, who most kindly presented me with a pair. 



It is certainly singular that a species hitherto so rare with us should turn up in 

 numbers both in England and Ireland in the same season. — C. A. Briggs, 55, 

 Lincoln's Inn Fields : October 2th, 1895. 



ituarn. 



Prof. Charles Valentine Riley, M.A., Ph.D., Eon. F.E.S., ^-c— The sad news 

 of Prof. Riley's death came to us as a shock. It occurred at Washington on 

 September 14th : he was killed instantaneously by a fall from his bicycle, at a 

 time when (according to a letter written by him to a friend here a few days pre- 

 viously) he had not fully recovered from the effects of another serious accident of a 

 different nature. 



Prof. Riley was born at Chelsea on Sept. 18th, 1843 ; his early years were spent 

 at Walton-on-Thames, where he made the acquaintance of the late W. C. Hewitson^ 

 and it is just possible this may have developed his taste for collecting insects and also 

 for drawing them, which latter talent conspicuously helped him in his future career. 

 He was sent to school in France and in Germany, remaining abroad about six years. 

 At the age of 17 (or probably slightly less) some real or imaginary family grievance 

 caused him — to use his own words — to "run away from home," and he emigrated 

 to America, where for three years he was engaged on a stock farm in Illinois, and 

 acquired and showed great practical knowledge. For a short time he seems to 

 have been occupied at Chicago in work which only the adaptability of his cha- 

 racter could have rendered congenial to him. Then he was reporter on more than 

 one newspaper, and especially the " Prairie Farmer," in which appeared most 

 of his early writings. During the Civil War he served for six months with the 

 134th Illinois Volunteers. In 1868, in conjunction with the late B. D. Walsh, he 

 started the American Entomologist. A second vol. (Mr. Walsh having died in the 

 meantime) appeared in 1870, and a third in 1880. In 1868 he accepted the position 

 of State Entomologist for Missouri, and the nine Annual Reports (now very rare) 

 published during his tenure of office proved (if proof were needed) the remarkable 

 thoroughness of his work, his originality in devising mechanical means for distribu- 

 ting the remedial agents he adopted, and his great skill as an artist : these Reports 

 drew forth the highest encomiums all over the world. Having mentioned remedial 

 agents, it may here be mentioned that " Paris Green " and " Kerosene Emulsion " 

 are two of the special adaptations of Riley, and tliat tiie manufacture of mechanical 

 appliances for distributing them, and others, has become an industry in itself in the 

 States, and to a less extent elsewhere. 



Here we must leave any detailed notice of his subsequent career. In 1877 he 

 was the head of a Commission to enquire into the case of the Rocky Mountain 

 Locust, and in 1878 and from 1881 to 1894 he was Government Entomologist to the 

 United States, with a large staff of assistants, during which time he published Annual 



