408 .TOURXAI. OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 1 



Obituary 



DR. JAMES FLETCHER 



The death of Dr. James Fletcher comes as a sense of personal loss 

 to all who ever met him. and of the older American entomologists there 

 are few that have not met him. And no one who ever came into any 

 close contact with James Fletcher failed in deriving some benefit from 

 that contact. Big in body and mind, he abhorred littleness of all sorts 

 and would believe ill of no one until the evidence was overwhelming. 

 Thoroughly good-natured himself under all conditions, he brightened 

 up all about him, and no meeting was dull where he had part in it. 

 Practical in all things and impatient of indirection and complications, 

 a few pertinent words from him would often straighten out a tangle 

 and bring agreement where disagreement seemed inevitable. 



Dr. Fletcher began his work in entomology as did so many of the 

 generation now largely passed away, by field ol)servations — as a col- 

 lector in fact. The writer made his acquaintance by correspondence 

 nearly twenty-five years ago, while he was yet in the Library of Par- 

 liament at Ottawa, and when, later we met personally at one of the 

 meetings of the Entomological Club of the A. A. A. S., a friendship 

 was formed that lasted so long as both lived. 



But Dr. Fletcher was not an entomologist only — he was quite as 

 much of a botanist and knew i)lants perhaps even better than he did 

 insects ; while few birds and other animals of his country were unfam- 

 iliar to him. He loved nature in all its aspects and his observations 

 in the field were accurate and reliable. 



A characteristic feature in his make-up was his ability to inspire 

 enthusiasm and to carry conviction. People believed him and in him, 

 and he justified their faith. No one less able than he could have 

 accomplished in Canada the work that he did. and the extent of that 

 work can scarcely be appreciated by any one who has not followed it 

 step by step. In 1887 he became officially what he had been practi- 

 cally for some time before, Entomologist and Botanist to the Domin- 

 ion, and his territory extended from Nova Scotia to Vancouver, with 

 all the problems that such a range opened up. 



And while demands upon him increased as the Experimental Farm 

 developed, assistance was given slowly until he carried a burden that 

 can never again be imposed upon any one man. Fletcher was never 

 a systematist and his works are largely in his official reports and in 

 the publications of the Entomological Society of Ontario. Conserva- 

 tive always, he was never backward in adopting approved practice. 



