OBITUARY NOTICE 329 



true that the farmer may still lose his turnip and swede 

 crops through the ravages of the active little beetle, which 

 is perversely termed the * fly ' ; that fruit-growers may 

 bewail the loss of their apples and plums owing to the 

 abundant presence of the winter moth ; and that stock- 

 keepers may view with dismay the damage both direct and 

 consequential that their cattle incur through the activity of 

 the warble-fly. But these and similar losses are entirely 

 preventable, provided that there be no careless indifference, 

 and that time and trouble be devoted to the object it is 

 sought to attain. It is to Miss Ormerod's persevering 

 efforts that this change is due ; it is to her persistent enquiry 

 year after year into the causes of mischief and into the 

 means of removing them that the subject of agricultural 

 entomology, which so long had languished in this country, 

 gradually forced its way to the front, until it has become 

 recognised that some serviceable knowledge of it is indis- 

 pensable to the mental equipment, and cannot be omitted 

 from the technical training of the aspiring agriculturist. 

 Readily and gratuitously she has answered day after day all 

 inquirers, whilst for twenty-four consecutive years her pen 

 and pencil have been devoted to the preparation of the 

 annual reports, every one of which she has generously 

 published at a nominal price, which year after year involved 

 a substantial loss. ' But the work was hard,' she now tells 

 us and the simplicity of her words renders them eloquent 

 ' for many years for about five or six months all the time I 

 could give to the subject was devoted to arranging the 

 contributions of the season for the Annual Report of the 

 year.' In spite of indifferent health, at times accompanied 

 by much physical suffering, Miss Ormerod has carried on 

 her self-imposed task, and the result is that she has revo- 

 lutionised the subject of agricultural entomology, as it was 

 understood in this country twenty-five years ago. Not only 

 at home, not only throughout the British Empire, but in 

 all progressive countries Miss Ormerod's name takes first 

 rank amongst the Economic Entomologists of the day, and 

 correspondence reaches her from beneath almost every 

 flag that flies. And, now that the time has come when this 

 talented lady feels it expedient to no longer work at the 

 high pressure which has so long been maintained, all who 

 have benefited by her disinterested labour and they are 

 very many will join in the hope that she may long live 

 to enjoy the comparative leisure to which she is looking 

 forward/' 



