LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



Illinois Industrial University, 



Office of State Entomologist. 



Champaign, III., December 31, 1884. 



To his Excellency, John M. Hamilton, Governor of the State of Illinois: 



Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith my third report as 

 State Entomologist of Ilhnois, covering the operations of the office 

 for the year 1884. 



Besides the articles presented in the report proper, I have pre- 

 X)ared an elaborate paper on certain contagious diseases of insects, 

 and on numerous studies and experiments made at the office for the 

 cultivation of the virus of such diseases and their propagation by 

 artificial measures. This study has not yet reached the stage of 

 actual successful application in the field on a large scale, and I 

 have therefore decided to withhold the results, for the present, from 

 publication here, and to publish them instead as a contribution to 

 science in the Bulletins of the State Laboratory of Natural History. 

 The space thus saved I have decided to use for an index to the 

 first twelve reports of the State Entomologists of Illinois ; and this 

 is presented herewith as an appendix to my present report. 



Respectfully submitted, 



S. A. Forbes, State Entomologist. 



