Fkbbuaey 14, 1896.] 



SGIENGE. 



223 



instance of the thoroughness of Prof. Riley's methods. 

 Several of them have gone out from this office to ac- 

 cept important positions under the State govern- 

 ments, and thus the influence of his training has he- 

 •eome widespread."* 



His achievements in the art of practical 

 entomology were many, but these were they 

 which have been recognized as of especial 

 and permanent value. 



He was the first to demonstrate the prac- 

 ticability of checking the ravages of an im- 

 ported species of insect by enlisting the aid 

 of the insect enemies which had kept it in 

 check in its native habitat. This was ef- 

 fected by the introduction from Australia, 

 in 1888, at his instance and by two agents 

 sent out from his office, of the Australian 

 Vedalia — a species of lady-bird, which is 

 the natural enemy of the ' Fluted Scale ' 

 an insect which had found its way from 

 Southern Australia to California, and was 

 fast destroying the orange and lemon groves. 



His studies in connection with Fhyl- 

 loxera, the French vine pest, although not 

 more important than many others more 

 purely American in interest, may well be 

 referred to on account of the attention 

 which they attracted in France and honors 

 conferred upon him as a result. To him 

 is generally attributed the idea of reviving 

 etiolated French vineyards by using cer- 

 tain American phylloxera-proof stocks to 

 graft upon. In a sketch recently pubUshed 

 by Monsieur Valery Mayet, in the Revue 

 de Viticulture, certain statements are made 

 which I quote : 



" This notice being written especially for grape 

 culturists, especial mention should be made of Riley's 

 work upon insects destructive to the grape vine. 



"From 1866 to 1884, during which time Riley made 

 numerous visits to France, there appeared a constant 

 succession of notes and articles upon insects inimical 

 to the vine, and especially upon Phylloxera. Riley 

 was, most certainly, one of the very earliest investi- 

 gators on this subject, and long before he discussed 

 the insect in Europe, he published in the Prairie 

 Farmer, of August 3, 1866, a description of the insect, 



* Howard, Joe. cit. 



the first good description, since as he remarks, ' It 

 had before been described only very briefly by Dr. 

 Fitch, in New York, in 1856, under the name of 

 Pemphigus viiifolii. ' 



1 "As soon as the Phylloxera had been discovered in 

 France ; in 1868 Riley began a correspondence with 

 the three naturalists who were especially interested 

 in this insect, J. E. Planchon, Liohtenstein and 

 Signoret. He even visited France in this connection. 

 The first idea suggested to his mind was to compare 

 the American species with that of Europe. ' Liohten- 

 stein and I ' wrote Planchon in 1865, ' had the idea 

 that the Pemphigus miifolii of Fitch was nothing but 

 our Phylloxera vastatrix. This theory was confirmed 

 as soon as Riley, coming for that express purpose to 

 Europe, assured us of the identity of the insects of 

 the two countries.' Riley, on the other hand, had 

 remarked, in 1871: 



" ' The observations made by me in America and 

 Europe, of the winged and wingless forms, leaves no 

 doubt in my mind that the insects of the two contin- 

 ents are identical. ' 



"The successive notices published by Riley, from 

 1868 to 1880, upon the insect, which for a long period 

 of time prevented the culture of the European vine 

 in the United States, a series of notes, not less than 

 fifty-five in number, demonstrated the important 

 connection of this naturalist with this very important 

 question. His name soon became as popular in 

 America as that of Planchon in France."* 



As long ago as 1873 the vine-growers of 

 France presented him with a gold medal, 

 struck in recognition of his investigations 

 into the history of the Phylloxera. In 1889, 

 as a further proof of their appreciation of 

 his services, they presented to him a beau- 

 tiful statue in bronze, while the French 

 government conferred upon him the Cross 

 of the Legion of Honor. 



Associated prominently with his name 

 are certain practical methods for the de- 

 struction of insects, the use of kerosene 

 emulsions to protect plants and trees from 

 the attacks of suctorial insects, and the in- 

 vention and perfection, aided by Mr. W. S. 

 Barnard, of a very ingenious series of me- 

 chanical devices for spraying insecticides 

 and fungicides in a liquid form, often called 

 the Eiley system. 



* Revue de Viticulture. 



