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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 59. 



of numerous individual species is repre- 

 sented. It is the legitimate outgrowth and 

 complement of Riley's investigations, and 

 is a voucher for the accuracy and fulness of 

 his personal work in entomology. This col- 

 lection he gave in 1882, without condition, 

 to the National Museum, at that time with- 

 out a collection of insects. His purpose in 

 doing this was to place in the Museum a 

 Worthy nucleus, and to be instrumental in 

 the formation of a collection which would 

 be worthy of the Nation. He was ap- 

 pointed at once honorary curator of the de- 

 partment of insects in the Museum, and 

 gave much attention to the department, 

 ■which thereafter made rapid advances. 



Professor Eiley's first interest in the study 

 of insects was from this standpoint of a 

 field naturalist. He did little in system- 

 atic entomology; the species which he de- 

 scribed were but few, and he was quite con- 

 tent to leave monographic and critical work 

 to others. His tastes led him to study the 

 life histories, to trace each form through all 

 its transformations, to know its habits, its 

 food and its manner of life ; and to under- 

 stand its relations to, and its influence upon, 

 the plants among which it lives and upon 

 which it feeds. To the fact that he knew 

 thoroughly the life histories of so many in- 

 sects was due the importance of his con- 

 tributions to economic entomology ; but he 

 was by no means content, as I have said, 

 with the results in this field, although his 

 deep interest in agriculture and horticul- 

 ture led inevitably to practical conclu- 

 sions with regard to every species which 

 he studied. His writings are full of im- 

 portant and original observations in pure 

 biology, and constitute a mine of reference 

 for zoologists and botanists, especially those 

 studying the subject of transformism or 

 evolution. He was indeed one of the ear- 

 liest American ti'ansformists. He published 

 an early and appreciative notice of Dar- 

 win's work, and I have seen manj^ letters 



addressed to him by Darwin. He was also 

 the correspondent and friend of Alfred Rus- 

 sell Wallace, Herbert Spencer, Henry Bates 

 and of other eminent workers in kindred 

 fields. 



His writings abound in decisions of the 

 greatest interest to students of evolution. 

 His papers on 'The Caprification of the Fig,' 

 on 'The Yucca Moth and Yucca Pollination' 

 and on ' Some Interrelations of Plants and 

 Insects ' were especially interesting. 



The most important of his philosophic 

 papers was his address on ' The Cause of 

 Variations in Organic Forms, ' which he de- 

 livered when Vice-President of the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, in 1888. 



Passing allusion may be made to his in- 

 terest in other branches of science. He 

 had great interest in mechanical devices of 

 all kinds, and in 1869 read before the 

 French Academy of Sciences a paper on 

 ' The Perfecting of the Graphophone,' which 

 was regarded in France as suggestive and 

 original. His studies of the fiight of in- 

 sects led him to take great interest in the 

 problem of artificial flight; and his own 

 skill as a prestidigitator, in which he took 

 gi-eat delight, induced him to give much 

 attention to spiritualism, in which he was 

 no believer, but which attracted him on ac- 

 count of his own success in exposing frauds. 

 During the last visit to Washington of 

 Alfred Russell Wallace, who was a believer 

 in spiritualism, he succeeded in proving 

 impositions on the part of certain mediums 

 whom the English philosopher was dis- 

 posed to trust. 



His standing as a naturalist was so high 

 that three years ago, when the Hope pro- 

 fessorship of entomology in the University 

 of Oxford became vacant through the death 

 of Professor Westwood, he was one of the 

 two most prominent candidates for this 

 position and failed of election by only a 

 few votes. Indeed, it was known to have 



