THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



67 



feeling', tender and generous heart lay hidden 

 beneath the rough and uncouth exterior. Mr. 

 Walsu leaves no offspring, nor has he any 

 relatives in this country; but fortunately his 

 bereaved vr-idow, who has our heartfelt sympa- 

 lliies in her distress, has connections near Rock 

 Island. 



Benjamin Damn Walsh was born in Frome, 

 Worcestershire, England, on the 2l8t of Septem- 

 ber, 180S, and was therefore in his sixty-second 

 year. He graduated at Trinity College, Cam- 

 bridge, and his parents intended that he should 

 enter the ministry ; but he was not theologically 

 disposed, and naturally had such a strong hatred 

 of hypocrisy and of everything that had the 

 semblance of wrong, that — judging from what 

 liel^as told us — the inconsistent conduct of some 

 of the collegiates who were studying for the 

 ministry, in all probability prejudiced him 

 ayainst the church. At all events liis tastes and 

 inclinations were of an entirely different char- 

 acter from those which are necessary to make a 

 minister of the gospel. We can learn but Itttle, 

 even from his wife, of his career in England, 

 but we know that he there published a bulky 

 pamphlet on University refoims, almost all the 

 suggestions in which he lived to see practically 

 carried out. He also wrote for Blackwood and 

 otlier English periodicals, besides newspaper 

 articles without end, and in 1837 published a large 

 octavo volume in Loudon, entitled "Walsh's 

 Comedies of Aristophanes.'" This volume is in 

 many respects remarkable, embracing as it 

 does the "Acharians,"' the "Knights" and the 

 "Clouds," translated into corresponding Eng- 

 lish metres. There are many passages in this 

 work illustrative of that same forcible style and 

 utilitarian logic, which so characterized his En- 

 tomological writings. 



This work was to have been completed in 

 three volumes, but, owing to some difllculty 

 with the publishers, we believe none but this 

 one volume was ever issued. 



Mr. Walsh married in England, and came to 

 America iu 1838. All his relatives are in Eng- 

 land, and he has yet living Jive sisters and 

 three brothers. Of the latter, Thomas Wm. 

 Walsh, M. D., still resides at AVorcester ; J. H. 

 Walsh (" Stonehcuge ") is the present editor 

 of the Loudon Field, and the well-known author 

 of one of the best works on the horse in the 

 English language ; while the third brother, F. 

 AV. Walsh, is a clergyman and schoolmaster. 



Upon arriving in this country, he went into 

 Henry county, in Illinois, and purchased a farm 

 of three hundred acres, near Cambridge, the 

 couuty seat, where he determined to retire 



in great part from the world, and lead the 

 life of a philosopher. He soon became thorough- 

 ly devoted to this country, and never once re- 

 turned to England or expressed any desire to 

 do so. He remained on the farm for upwards 

 of thirteen years, leading a very secluded life, 

 and associating but little with his neighbors, from 

 the fact that there were few, if any of them, who 

 were his equal in intellect, or could appreciate 

 his learning. Yet he was thoroughly Demo- 

 cratic in his ideas, and had no false pride what- 

 ever: he did, as far as possible, all his own work, 

 even to making his own shoes and mending his 

 own harness. Finally, a colony of Swedes 

 settled in his neighborhood, and, by damming 

 up the waler at Bishop Hill, produced so much 

 miasma iu the vicinity, that very much sickness 

 prevailed there. His own health in time be- 

 came impaired, and at the suggestion of M. B. 

 Osborn, of Rock Island, he removed to that city 

 in 1851, and entered into the lumber business. 

 He carried on this business about seven years, 

 during which he found time to publish much 

 tugitive matter in newspapers, principally on 

 political topics, always affixing his signature, 

 and scorning even the appearance of deceit. 



In politics he was a Radical Republican, hat- 

 ing all forms of slavery and oppression. As late 

 as Grant's campaign he was a member of the 

 Tanner's club of Rock Island; and we shall 

 never forget the enjoyable "hours we spent with 

 him at some of the meetings of the club, where 

 one forgot his real age iu contemplating his un- 

 usual good spirits, activity aud vigor. In 

 1858 he suspected that the City Council was 

 cheating the city, and though no politician, he 

 ran for Alderman for the express purpose of 

 getting at the books, and of thus being enabled 

 to investigate the matter and publish the facts. 

 Such a course naturally made him many ene- 

 mies, aud he was wayjaid and his life threatened ; 

 but he succeeded ii getting elected, and after 

 exposing the frauds, aud thus accomplishing his 

 purpose, he resigned. In the same year he 

 retired from the lumber business with some- 

 thing of a competency, and built a row of 

 buildings on Orleans and Exchange streets, 

 known as "AValsh's Row." 



Up to this time, though lie had formerly made 

 a small collection of insects in England, he had 

 paid no attention to Entomology iu this country. 

 But as soon as the buildings were erected, he 

 devoted himself entirely to this, his favorite 

 science. Thus his Entomological career dates 

 back scarcely a dozen years, but how faithfully 

 and Mrseveringly he labored, the record of 

 thosp years abundantly testifies. The first pub- 



