INTEODUCTION. 



pose, Gov. Palmer authorized me to visit Rock Island and effect 

 the purchase. Some of the details of this transaction were pub- 

 lished in the newspapers at the time, and need not be hero re- 

 peated. It may be stated in a few words, that this collection em- 

 braces all the orders of insects, that it is estimated to contain about 

 thirty thousand specimens, well preserved and admirably mounted, 

 and most of the species scientifically named ; and that it was the 

 result of ten years' assiduous labor by this able and enthusiastic en- 

 tomologist. The price paid for it was twenty-five hundred dollars, 

 which sum also covered a considerable balance of salary due to 

 Mr. "Walsh at the time of his death. I may here add that I have 

 been both surprised and gratified at the universal expression of 

 satisfaction by men of intelligence, wherever my ofiicial travels 

 have carried me, at the accomplishment of this purchase, and I 

 have heard no intimation that the sum paid for this cabinet was 

 injudiciously expended. The cabinet is deposited, for the present, 

 in the fire-proof building of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. 



Next in value to a collection of the insects themselves, are cor- 

 rectly drawn figures. "With respect to availability, a well illus- 

 trated book must even take the precedence of a cabinet, since the 

 book can be obtained at a comparatively trifling cost, and may be 

 always at hand. It is in this way that Mr. C. Y. Hiley, State En- 

 tomologist of Missouri, has done an excellent work in the cause of 

 "Western economic entomology. The figures with which his val- 

 uable Reports are illustrated, are remarkable for their accuracy, 

 and one can never be at a loss, in referring to them, to identify 

 any of the species illustrated. 



And in this connection, I cannot help referring to the extensive 

 and valuable series of plates illustrative of the entomology of the 

 United States, and with special reference to the injurious species, 

 in all their stages, in the course of preparation by Mr, Townend 

 Glover, Entomologist to the Department of Agriculture at Wash- 

 ington. 



The work consists of a great number of figures etched upon 

 copper, many figures upon the same plate so as to economize 

 space and material, and thus reduce the cost and price of the pub- 

 lication. The plates have already reached the following num- 

 bers : forty-five plates of Coleoptera, six of Orthoptera, seven of 

 Neuroptera, ten of Hymenoptera, one hundred and nineteen of 

 A ^2 



