12 



with the food habits of beetles, that of 1875 with the Heteroptera, that 

 of 1876 with the Homoptera, and of 1877 with the Hymenoptera. 



His work was continued by the late Dr. C. V. Riley, of whom all of 

 us know, and to whose writings coming 1 generations of economic ento- 

 mologists must constantly refer. Dr. Riley began his work in Mis- 

 souri and his nine reports issued there from 1869 to 1877 have been char- 

 acterized by Dr. Howard as forming u the basis for the new economic 

 entomology of the world." These reports are original, practical, sci- 

 entific, and include a multitude of facts and intelligent deductions 

 which have had a potent effect upon the science. The work begun in 

 Missouri was ably continued in the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, with the exception of an unfortunate break of two years, 

 down to the untimely death of this gifted scientist. His work in the 

 Department of Agriculture was in many respects a continuation of 

 that begun in Missouri, and the large amount of information gathered 

 and published is most remarkable. The reports of this man are 

 largely composed of independent accounts of various species coming 

 prominently to notice from year to year. Dr. Riley's skill with the 

 pencil and his accurate dilineation of insect life has added very mate- 

 rially to his reputation. 



The later work of the Division of Entomology has been continued 

 by one with whom we are well acquainted, and at present we will 

 leave his work and turn to a consideration of other reports. 



The magnificent series of volumes on economic entomology prepared 

 by the State entomologists of Illinois contain an immense amount of 

 information and will ever remain enduring monuments to their writers. 

 There are special features in this series of reports which are worthy 

 of mention. Dr. Le Baron began in his third report his Outlines on 

 Entomology, which was continued in his fourth, and Dr. Thomas in 

 the sixth report began a series of papers designed to form a popular 

 account of the entomology of the State, particularly of those species 

 of economic importance. His successor, Dr. Forbes, has given us 

 several papers of noteworthy value. His twelfth report includes a 

 discussion of the food relations of predaceous beetles, and the appendix 

 to the fourteenth is an index to the twelve earlier reports. The fif- 

 teenth and sixteenth give much space to a detailed consideration of the 

 chinch bug, and the seventeenth contains an analytical list of the ento- 

 mological writings of Le Baron, aucl renders his work more accessible 

 to other writers. The eighteenth report contains an admirable mono- 

 graph on insects injurious to Indian corn, and the nineteenth is devoted 

 largely to a monographic account of the work with chinch-bug fungus, 

 the appendix comprising a detailed study of the Mediterranean flour 

 moth by Professor Johnson. 



The State entomologist of New Jersey has issued a series of reports 

 since 1890 which contain a mass of original observations concerning 



