222 



SCIENCE. 



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



in any one State. To feel a necessity was 

 suflScient for him to act, and consequently 

 we find him in public lectures, in leading 

 articles, through resolutions offered at so- 

 cieties' meetings, memorials to Congress, 

 and in every other way urging the creation 

 of a National Entomological Commission. 

 After various bills had been introduced and 

 discussed. Congress finally created the En- 

 tomological Commission, with a special view 

 to investigate the Eocky Mountain locust, 

 or so-called grasshopper, and Prof. Riley 

 was tendered the position as Chief of the 

 Commission, a distinction which his investi- 

 gations into this insect had justly earned, 

 for he had already not only made most 

 important discoveries as to its habits and 

 the best means of subduing it, but had as- 

 certained sundiy laws that govern it, so as 

 to be able to predict the time of its coming 

 and going and the limits of its spread. 

 Consulted by Secretary Schurz as to the 

 other appointments, it is no wonder that 

 the members chosen were Doctor A. S. 

 Packard, Jr., a naturalist of eminence, one 

 of the first entomologists of the world, and 

 a prominent author and editor, and Prof. 

 Cyrus Thomas, who had likewise labored 

 for the creation of the Commission and who 

 was the authority on the family of insects 

 to which the locusts belonged. Both of 

 these gentlemen, like Prof Riley, had been 

 chosen by their respective States as ofiBcial 

 entomologists, and had a large personal ex- 

 perience in the West. Accepting charge of 

 the Commission thus constituted in March, 

 1877, we find Eiley travelling that year 

 over most of the Western country, from the 

 Gulf to the South Saskatchawan, in British 

 America, now in company with the Gover- 

 nor of the State, and again with other 

 special officials, but everywhere exhorting 

 the farmers to action, making careful obser- 

 vations and experiments, and inspiring con- 

 fidence." 



The work of the Commission was carried 



on with all the originality and vigor which 

 characterized his work, and its annual re- 

 ports contain a mass of important results, 

 embodying the first real and definite knowl- 

 edge on the subject which had seen the 

 light of print. One of his associates writes: 



"It was mainly owing to his executive ability, 

 business sagacity, experience In oflScial life, together 

 with the scientific knowledge and practical inventive 

 turn of mind in devising remedies, or selecting those 

 invented by others, that the work of the Commission 

 was so popular and successful during the last five 

 years of its existence."" 



The publications of the Commission con- 

 sisted of five illustrated reports and seven 

 bulletins. Of the former, Riley, himself, 

 wrote that " the five taken together repre- 

 sent an amount of original investigation 

 and experiment, the practical outcome of 

 which has certainly never been excelled in 

 the annals of economic entomology." In 

 these reports were discussed not only the 

 Rocky Mountain locust and its allies, but 

 the cotton worm, the Boll worm, the array 

 worm, the caukerworms and insects injur- 

 ious to forest trees. 



The position of of United States Ento- 

 mologist was held by him duriug fourteen 

 years, or from 1878, with a brief intermis- 

 sion, until nearly the time of his death ; and 

 during the period of his incumbency tlie 

 Division of Entomology was organized. His 

 successor in this position "wrote in 1890: 



"The present efficient organization of the Di^Hsion 

 of Entomologj' was his own original conception, and 

 he is responsible for its plan down to the smallest de- 

 tail. It is unquestionably the foremost organization 

 of its kind at present in existence. It has a small 

 permanent corps of scientific workers, who have been 

 trained under him and who assist in the preparation 

 and editing of reports, in the care of insects, the life- 

 histories of which are being studied, in the making of 

 elaborate notes, in the mounting and arranging of 

 specimens for permanent economic and classificatory 

 collections, in making drawings for illustrations to the 

 reports and in the very large correspondence. The^ 

 training of these assistants and their present efficiency 

 and standing in the scientific world is only another 



*A. S. Packard, SciEXCE, N. S., II., 74, F. 



