94 



Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin' 



Vol. 27. Art. 2 



was admitted to the bar and was elected 

 county clerk. About 1864 he dropped 

 law and entered the ministry. 



For some time. Thomas had considered 

 entering;; the field of science and, as evi- 

 dence of his practicalness, in 1856 he de- 

 liberately bej^an the study of entomology 

 as being a field which was inexpensive and 

 in which there was an abundance of ma- 

 terial close at hand upon which he could 

 work. He became an authority on the 

 Orthoptera. He wrote many articles on 

 entomolog\-, some of which he contributed 

 to farm journals. 



From 186^ to 1874 he was associated 

 with the federally sponsored Hayden Geo- 

 logical Survey, paying special attention to 

 the entomology and agricultural resources 

 of the West. During this period he pub- 

 lished many reports of entomological 

 significance. 



In 1874 Thomas was elected to the 

 Professorship of Natural Sciences at 

 Southern Illinois Normal University, 

 whereupon he severed his relationship with 

 the federal survey. The next year, 1875, 

 he was appointed by Governor Richard 

 J. Oglesby to take the place of Dr. Le 

 Baron as State Entomologist. Six re- 

 ports were published by Thomas and his 

 collaborators. 



On March 3, 1877, the United States 

 Entomological Commission was authorized 

 by Congress. Thomas found time, along 

 with his regular work, to become a mem- 

 ber of this Commission. Other members 

 of the Commission were C. V. Riley and 

 A. S. Packard, Jr. Thomas was not col- 

 laborating with amateurs when he joined 

 these two men on the Commission. Both 

 were giants in the profession — names that 

 still command respect. Riley was State 

 Entomologist for Missouri, as well as a 

 member of the Commission, and the real 

 originator of entomological research in 

 the federal government. Packard was a 

 scholarly gentleman, a member of the 

 National Academ\ of Sciences and other 

 learned groups, and an author of note in 

 his field. 



Thomas was a man of real capability, 

 holding, as he did simultaneously, a pro- 

 fessorship at Southern Illinois Normal 

 University, the State Entomologist's re- 

 sponsibility, and membership on the his- 

 toric federal Entomological Commission. 



'Fhomas was interested in many things, 

 and in Juh', 1882, he resigned his various 

 Illinois positions and accepted employ- 

 ment in the Smithsonian Institution's Bu- 

 reau of Ethnology, leaving a brilliant and 

 uncompleted career in entomology. He 

 was to gain further laurels in archeology 

 and to become an authority on the Mayan 

 language. 



About some things he was adamant. He 

 published a review of Darwin's works 

 from an orthodox view, which so im- 

 pressed the officials of Gettysburg College 

 that they hastened to award him an honor- 

 ary Ph.D. degree. 



Thomas lived to be 85 years old, pass- 

 ing away on June 27, 1910. 



He bears a peculiar relationship to the 

 Natural History Survey, for he is credited 

 with having first proposed an Illinois Nat- 

 ural History Society in 1857, and he w^as 

 a State Entomologist. 



Thomas was a man of multiple apti- 

 tudes, as the above sketch indicates. He 

 moved his intellect in many fields: school 

 teacher, lawyer, county official, minister, 

 entomologist, explorer, college professor, 

 and archeologist. 



Stephen Alfred Forbes 



No one has molded the character of the 

 Natural History Survey so much as Dr. 

 Forbes, a man of irrepressible intellect 

 and insatiable curiosity, and the fourth 

 and last Illinois State Entomologist. 



Forbes was born of pioneer parentage 

 on May 29, 1844, in Stephenson County, 

 Illinois. He was one of a large family. 

 His father died when he was 10, and a 

 brother assumed the responsibility for an 

 invalid mother, Stephen, and a younger 

 sister. Stephen attended district school un- 

 til he was 14, and his brother carried on 

 his education for 2 more years. For a 

 short time in 1860 he attended Beloit 

 Academy. He had an innate interest in 

 language, and on his own he learned to 

 read French, Spanish, and Italian. 



When the Civil War broke out in 

 1861, Forbes was 17. He joined Company 

 B, 7th Illinois Cavalry, in September of 

 that year. He rapidly advanced from or- 

 derly to sergeant to lieutenant to captain, 

 reaching the last rank when he was 20. 

 In 1862 he was captured w'hile carrying 

 dispatches near Corinth, Mississippi, and 



