SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



65 



AN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGIST. 



rilHERE died at her residence, Torrington House, 

 -*- St. Albans, on July 19th, after much suffering, 

 Eleanor A. Ormerod, so well known as one of the 

 few people in this country who have made a sys- 

 tematic study of economic entomology. We have 

 always looked upon this lady as a unique person- 

 age, and one who, against grave difficulties and 

 none too ample means, showed the successive 

 Governments of her time what they should have 



with a Government establishment. Yet she worked 

 so conscientiously that it is said her correspon- 

 dents varied in social status from cottage gar- 

 deners to foreign Governments, her name having 

 become world-wide in its celebrity. 



Miss Ormerod was the third daughter of the late 

 George Ormerod, D.C.L., F.R.S., and was born at 

 Sedbury Park on May 11th, 1828, being therefore 

 over seventy-two years of age. Her father was a 



From Photo by] 



Eleanor A. Ormerod. 



[Elliott & Fry, London. 



done for our country. Compared with similar 

 work executed during the same period in the 

 United States of America and other countries in 

 combating the ravages of deleterious insect life 

 and encouraging insects beneficial to mankind, 

 Miss Ormerod's efforts were . at best but those of 

 an amateur, though none the less honourable, con- 

 sidering that it was carried on single-handec ly. 

 Take, for instance, the division for entomology in 

 the United States Department of Agriculture. We 

 find that department has sufficient means to main- 

 tain an entomologist-in -chief, a first assistant, 

 three other chief assistants, two investigators, 

 seven ordinary assistants, and an artist, besides 

 funds for outside help. It therefore could not 

 be supposed that Miss Ormerod, without any finan- 

 cial aid beyond her surplus personal means, 

 could be expected to produce results comparable 

 August 1901.— No. 87, Vol. yni. 



well-known litterateur in his time, being author of 

 a history of Cheshire. Having always suffered 

 from indifferent health, this lady had from early 

 life cultivated a habit of observation of common 

 things around her. Living most of her life in the 

 country — in Gloucestershire, at Tildesley in Lanca- 

 shire, and latterly in Hertfordshire — she developed 

 a taste for the study of insect life which ultimately 

 brought her to the position of Hon. Consulting 

 Entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society, 

 additional Examiner in Agricultural Entomology 

 in the University of Edinburgh, and other 

 honorary posts of a like character. Miss Ormerod 

 was also a F. R. Met. Soc. ; F.E.S. London ; M.E.S. 

 Washington ; M. Assoc. Official Entomologist, 

 Washington ; Honorary Fellow, Ent. Soc. Stock- 

 holm ; Hon. Mem. Farmers' Club; Hon. Mem. 

 R. Agric. and Hort. Soc, S. Australia ; Hon. Mem. 

 D Published July 25th, 1901 



