406 ENTOMOLOGY 
The U. S. Department of Agriculture.—The first ento- 
mological expert appointed under the general government was 
Townend Glover, in 1854. He issued a large number of 
reports (1863-1877), which “are storehouses of interesting 
and important facts which are too little used by the working 
entomologists of to-day,” as Howard says. Glover prepared, 
moreover, a most elaborate series of illustrations of North 
American insects, at an enormous expense of labor, out of all 
proportion, however, to the practical value of his undertaking. 
Glover was succeeded in 1878 by Riley, whose achievements 
have aroused international admiration. He resigned ina year, 
after writing a report, and was succeeded by Prof. Comstock, 
who held office for two years, during which he wrote two 
important volumes (published respectively in 1880 and 1881) 
dealing especially with cotton, orange and scale insects. His 
work on scale insects laid the foundation for all our subsequent 
investigation of the subject. 
Riley, assuming the office of government entomologist, pub- 
lished up to 1894, ** 12 annual reports, 31 bulletins, 2 special 
reports, 6 volumes of the periodical bulletin Insect Life, and 
a large number of circulars of information.’ During his 
vigorous and enterprising administration economic entomology 
took an immense step in advance. The life histories of injuri- 
ous insects were studied with extreme care and many valuable 
improvements in insecticides and insecticide machinery were 
made. One of the notable successes of Dr. Riley and his co- 
workers, which has attracted an exceptional amount of public 
attention, was the practical extermination of the fluted scale 
(Icerya purchasi), which threatened to put an end to the cul- 
tivation of citrus trees in California. This disaster was 
averted by the importation from Australia, in 1888, of a native 
enemy of the scale, namely, the lady-bird beetle Novius 
(Vedalia) cardinalis, which, in less than eighteen months after 
its introduction into California, subjugated the noxious scale 
insect. The United States has since sent Novius to South 
Africa, Egypt and Portugal with similar beneficial results. 
