38 THE REPORT OF THE [19- 



been open alike to the technical and applied science, and the series of volumes constitute 

 a history of entomology in America, during this period. The first editor, Dr. Bethune, 

 had had an eight year's training as entomological editor of the Canada Farmer, and was 

 all the more fitted for the difficult task of editing an economic and at the same time 

 technical entomological journal, and the result ha3 been so satisfactory that I do not 

 remember having heard of a single significant criticism being offered against either the 

 publication itself or the nature of its contents. The entomologists of America owe to 

 both Dr. Bethune and Dr. William Saunders a debt of gratitude for their faithful 

 editorial labors. The twenty-nine annual reports of this Society are of great value, 

 though not so free from compiled articles as is the " Canadian Entomologist." In 1865, 

 the Entomological Society of Thiladelphia began the publication of the " Practical Ento- 

 mologist" with Mr. Benjamin D. Walsh, of Rock Island, Illinois, as associate editor at 

 first, and later as editor. The publication was a very useful and valuable one, being, as 

 the title implies, a strictly practical journal, but it was short lived as but two annual 

 volumes were published. In 1868, that exceedingly valuable publication, the American 

 Entomologist, was begun under the editorship of Benjamin D. Walsh and C. V. Riley, 

 the former being killed by an accident soon after the close of the first volume. Unfortun- 

 ately, this too was suspended at the end of the second volume, to be resumed again in 

 1880, when another volume was issued by Dr. Riley, and then it expired for good. In 

 1878, the Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society, was started, and six valuable 

 though rather small volumes were published, when this, too, ceased to exist, being, with 

 " Papilio," a magazine devoted exclusively to lepidoptera, and published in New York 

 City, and comprising four volumes extending from 1881 to 1885, merged into " Ento- 

 mologica Americana." But this last, at the end of the sixth volume, after the fashion of 

 the others, gave up the ghost. There is much that is valuable to be found in all of these 

 publications, and they mark the growth of the science during the period of their existence. 

 Not a few of the younger of our entomologists sent to them their maiden communications 

 though there are no lack of papers by the oldest workers to be found among them. All 

 of these entomological periodicals, including the " Canadian Entomologist" had their 

 influence in encouraging the study of insects especially among young men, in much the 

 same way that the entomologist's contributions to the agricultural and horticultural press 

 have resulted in a closer attention to and a better knowledge of the common destructive 

 insects by our intelligent up-to-date husbandmen. 



The activity in the pure science has not been greater than in the applied. Valuable 

 entomological papers by Uhler and S. S. Rathvon are to be found in the reports of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture for 1860, 1861 and 1862, when Mr. Glover 

 was re-employed, this time as Government entomologist, and up to 1878, each annual 

 volume of the Departmental reports contains instructive papers on insects. The author 

 himself derived much aid and encouragement from the paper dn " The Food and Habits 

 of Beetles " in the report for 1868. I can only call attention to that other immense 

 work of Mr. Glover, viz., " Manuscript Notes from my Journal, or Illustrations of In- 

 sects," with the complete set of illustrations comprising 273 quarto plates, with 6,179 

 figures engraved on copper. A few institutions in the country have been able to secure 

 a full set of these plates, colored by a competent artist. In 1867, a bill was passed by 

 the Legislature of Illinois authorizing the Governor to appoint a State Entomologist. 

 Through some technicalities he was not appointed, though the Governor recommended 

 Mr. B. D. Walsh for the position ; this gentleman would have been made State Entomo- 

 logist in 1870, but for the terrible accident, on November 12th, 1869, that cost him his 

 life. As it was, he was acting state entomologist at th8 time of his death, and in that 

 capacity issued his first report. In 1870, Dr. William LeBaron was appointed state 

 entomologist and held the office for four years, issuing in this time four annual reports. 

 In 1875, Dr. LeBaron was followed by Dr. Cyrus Thomas, who held office until 1882, 

 issuing in the meantime, six annual reports, when he was succeeded by Dr. S. A. Forbes, 

 the present incumbent, whose reports contain the results of original work almost exclus- 

 ively. In 1868 Mr. C. V. Riley was appointed State Entomologist of Missouri, serving 

 in this capacity until 1877, when the office was abolished. The nine annual reports pub- 



