468 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 563. 



but was unable to devote funds from his ap- 

 propriation to send an assistant to Australia, 

 for the reason that congress at that time re- 

 stricted travel to the limits of the United 

 States. There was an exposition that year 

 in Melbourne, and he, therefore, called upon 

 the late Thomas F. Bayard, at that time sec- 

 retary of state, and urged th^t the traveling 

 expenses of an assistant be paid, for this pur- 

 pose, from the funds set aside for the exhibi- 

 tion by the United States at the Melbourne 

 exposition, and of which the Department of 

 State had control. His request was granted, 

 and Mr. Albert Koebele, an assistant in the 

 Division of Entomology, was sent over, his 

 expenses simply being paid by the Department 

 of State and his salary by the Department of 

 Agriculture. Mr. Koebele secured the lady- 

 birds, and in the meantime another agent of 

 the Department of Agriculture, Mr. D. W. 

 Coquillett, stationed at Los Angeles, Calif., 

 had prepared a gauze tent over an infested 

 orange tree. All of Mr. Koebele's shipments 

 were sent direct to this assistant of the divi- 

 sion of entomology, and not to Mr. Craw. 

 It was at the Los Angeles station of the divi- 

 sion that the insects were propagated, and 

 from which they were sent, and not until con- 

 siderably later did Mr. Craw, as an agent of 

 the state board of horticulture, have anything 

 to do with the matter. When he did take it 

 up, however, he prosecuted the work very suc- 

 cessfully, and during the remainder of his 

 term of office (he is now in the employ of the 

 territorial government of Hawaii) he did a 

 great and good work with other beneficial 

 insects. Thus it will be seen that the intro- 

 duction and establishment of the ladybirds 

 were done by Professor Riley's assistants, the 

 expenses of Koebele to Australia being paid 

 by the Deparment of State. 



It so happened that one of the United States 

 commissioners to the Melbourne exposition 

 was the late Frank McCoppin, and Mr. Mc- 

 Coppin also recommended that the funds for 

 Mr. Koebele's expenses be paid by the Depart- 

 ment of State. Mr. McCoppin always claimed, 

 in his lifetime, the full credit for the whole 

 thing, but the facts are as I have stated, and 

 they are within my immediate knowledge. 



since at the time I was first assistant to Pro- 

 fessor Riley and was intimately acquainted 

 with everything that was going on. 



The introduction of this insect was one of 

 Riley's greatest achievements, since it estab- 

 lished a principle upon which much good work 

 has since been done in many parts of the 

 world; and it should be stated to his further 

 credit that he was sanguine of success at the 

 start, and that the work was carried through 

 against the predictions of his two oldest as- 

 sistants, Mr. E. A. Schwarz and myself, both 

 of us having urged against the probability of 

 the establishment in the nearctic life zone of 

 an insect belonging to the Australasian fauna. 



To Mr. Craw, therefore, belongs the credit 

 of being, if not the original suggester of the 

 plan, at least one of the first suggesters, and 

 also the credit of having, some time after the 

 introduction and perfect establishment of the 

 insect, had charge of its propagation. To Mr. 

 McCoppin belongs only the credit of having 

 facilitated Mr. Koebele's work by recommend- 

 ing that his expenses be paid from the Mel- 

 bourne exposition fund. To Riley and the 

 Department of Agriculture belongs the credit 

 of having, by investigations, shown exactly 

 the spot to go for the supposed beneficial in- 

 sects; for having furnished the man to go to 

 Australia, and having paid his salary; for 

 having induced wholly or partially the secre- 

 tary of state to consent to the payment of the 

 traveling expenses from the Melbourne exposi- 

 tion fund; for the preparations for the receipt 

 of the beneficial insects at Los Angeles ; and 

 for having cared for them and supervised 

 their establishment, propagation and distribu- 

 tion for many months after arrival^ thus 

 bringing about the wonderful results which 

 followed. L. O. Howard. 



NOMENCLATURE AT THE INTERNATIONAL BOTAN- 

 ICAL CONGRESS AT VIENNA. 



To THE Editor of Science: I have read 

 with much interest Dr. Britton's account in 

 your issue for August 18 of the action in 

 regard to nomenclature taken at the recent 

 International Botanical Congress at Vienna. 

 So far so good. The action seems to have 

 been about what was expected by most Amer- 



