xlvi Travis. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



Kiley, and on motion Professor Nipher was appointed as a 

 committee to prepare a suitable memorial of Professor Riley. 

 One person was proposed for active membership. 



November 4, 1895. 



President Green in the chair, thirty-three persons present. 

 Professor F. E. Nipher read the following memorial of the 

 late Professor C. V. Riley : — 



To the President and Members of the Academy of Science of St. Louis : 



Gentlemen : At your request I have tried to give some account of the 

 work which our lately deceased associate Charles V. Riley did while actively 

 engaged among us. 



I can give only the Impressions of one unfamiliar with the details of his 

 work. It was, however, evident to anyone who knew him twenty years ago, 

 that he was a man of great ability, full of energy and of enthusiasm for his 

 work, and ambitious to accomplish great things in his chosen field. 



His connection with the Academy began April 20, 1868, soon after he had 

 been made State Entomologist of Missouri. On January 16, 1871, he was 

 elected Recording Secretary, a position which he held until January 3, 1876, 

 when he became President of the Academy. He served as President until 

 January 7, 1878. At about this time be removed to Washington, and became 

 connected with the Department of Agriculture. 



The first paper presented by him for publication in the Transactions of 

 the Academy was read September 2, 1872. It marked the beginning of 

 his work on the fertilization of the Yucca. Dr. Engelmann had drawn 

 attention to the fact that the plants of this genus must rely upon insect 

 agency for fertilization, and Riley at once took up the study of this subject. 

 The results were perhaps the most interesting of any reached by him, and 

 attracted world-wide attention among botanists and entomologists. Vol- 

 umes III. and IV. of our Transactions contain in all seventeen papers 

 written by Riley, while actively at work among us. All of this material is 

 also to be found either in the form of reprints or rewritten in connection 

 with other matter, in the nine annual reports which as State Entomologist 

 he made to the State Board of Agriculture. 



Riley undoubtedly accomplished his greatest work in the field of economic 

 entomology. His reports are full of information of value to the farmer and 

 the horticulturist. He always sought to impress upon the people of our State 

 the importance of distinguishing friends from enemies in the insect world, 

 and his continued aim was to show the farmer how he might take an active 

 and effective part in the war of exterminatioUj the results of which should 

 determine whether the farmer should lose or save the fruits of his labor. 

 He thought it proper that the Governor should appoint a day of fasting and 

 prayer during the great locust invasion, but he was emphatic in recommend- 

 ing the value of a ditch two feet wide and two feet deep as an effective aux- 

 iliary measure. It is difficult to exaggerate the educational value to a State 



