VI INTRODUCTION. 



His successor was William LeBaron, of Geneva, Kane Co., ap- 

 pointed April 2, 1870. LeBaron's First Annual Report, the second 

 of the series, counting that of Walsh as the iirst, was for the year 

 1870, and was published in August, 1871 as a separate pamphlet, 

 the first edition, printed in February, having been destroyed by 

 fire before publication. I have not been able to as certain that it 

 was published in any other form. 



Le Baron's Second Report, number three of the series, covered 

 the year 1871, and was published in 187 '2 in Vol. III. of the Reports 

 made to the General Assembly at its Twenty-seventh Session, con- 

 vened January 4, 1871 ; and also as an appendix to the Transactions 

 of the Illinois Horticultural Society for the year 1871. 



His Third Report (the fourth from the office), for the year 1872, 

 was published during the following year in the Reports made to the 

 General Assembly for the session of 18/3. It consisted of two parts, 

 the first devoted to injurious insects simply, and the second, paged 

 separately, consisting of an introduction to general and economic 

 entomology, intended to prepare the way for a series of systematic 

 reports on the several orders of insects. 



The Fourth (and last) Report of Dr. Le Baron, cited in the fol- 

 lowing index as the fifth of the series, consisted of a reprint of Part 11, 

 of the preceding Report, followed by a systematic treatise on the 

 order Coleoptera, paged continuously with the foregoing, the whole 

 being issued as the Report for 1873. It was printed in the appendix 

 to the Transactions of the State Horticultural Society for that year, 

 and was also issued separately as an independent volume, copy- 

 righted l)y the author. 



Although Dr. Le Baron continued in ofiice until the expiration of 

 his term, April 9, 1875, no report seems to have been presented for 

 the year 1874. His successor, Cyrus Thomas, was appointed 

 April 13, 1875. 



In the meantime the Legislature had, by an act "to change the 

 fiscal year," approved March 29, 1875, and in force July 1 of that 

 year, directed that the reports of a number of State officers, includ- 

 ing the State Entomologist, should be rendered to the Governor on 

 or before the first day of November in the year 1876, and biennially 

 thereafter, closing with the fiscal year preceding each regular session 

 of the General Assembly; and had further directed that no other 

 annual or biennial report should be made by any of the officers 

 mentioned. Dr. Thomas's First Report (the Sixth of the State Ento- 

 mologist) was rendered, in accordance with this law, towards the 

 close of the year 1876, and related to that year and the preceding. 

 It is styled the "Sixth Report of the State Entomologist of Illinois. 

 * * * * First Biennial Report, by Cyrus Thomas, Ph. D., State 

 Entomologist of Illinois." This Report was published in the Trans- 

 actions of the State Department of Agriculture for 1876 (Vol. 14). 



Notwithstanding the direction above cited with respect to the 

 period to be covered by the successive reports of the Entomologist, the 

 Legislature passed, during the session of 1877, an act, approved 

 and in force May 25 of that year, authorizing the State Board of 

 Agriculture to append to and publish with their Annual Report the 



