Natural Science News. 



VOL. I ALBION, N. Y., OCTOBER 5, 3895. No. 36 



Natural Science News. 



A Weekly Journal Devoted to 

 Natural History. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, Editor and Publisher, 

 ALBION, N. Y. 



Correspondence and Items of interest to the 

 student of any of the various branches of the 

 Natural Sciences solicited from all. 



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Entered at Albion P. O. as 2nd class mall matter 



A Moss Agate. 



Riding along the prairie trail one day 

 I chanced upon a stone of smallish 

 size, 



Furrowy and rough, displeasing to 

 the eyes, 



Of pallid yellow hue and blotched with 

 gray. 



I kept the stone for years and deemed 

 it naught 



Of worth, save for a pocket-piece, 

 until 



A lapidary's hand with wondrous 

 skill. 



Revealed the secret beauty long un- 

 sought 



And, as the moss was hidden in the 

 heart 



Of that rude stone, since some dim 

 age of man, 

 Only to be wrought out at last by art — 

 Which may be but a part of God's 

 great plan. 

 Yon farmer boy now drinking at the 

 well 



May prove another Shakespeare — who 

 can tell? 



John N. Billiard. Ex: 



.Charles Valentine Riley. 



It is with deep sorrow we record 

 the death of this distinguished and 

 indefatigable worker in science. 

 In Washington, on the morning 

 of the 14th of September, in com- 

 pany with his son, Prof. Riley 

 started on his wheel for the city 

 from his residence, Wyoming Ave- 

 nue. They bowled on at a fast 

 rate all along the route, until when 

 the level space was reached at the 

 foot [of the hill where Connecticut 

 Avenue intersects with S Street, 

 the wheels were flying with more 

 rapidity than the careful professor 

 usually attained. Suddenly the 

 front wheel of his machine struck 

 a small rock and twisted complete- 



ly around. The shock was so sud- 

 den that Prof. Riley was thrown 

 violently forward over the handle 

 bars and landed on his head and 

 face. He retained his hold on the 

 handles, however, and the bicycle 

 fell on top of him. He was un- 

 conscious when picked up. 



A number of physicians were 

 summoned at once, and within a 

 few minutes the sufferer was re- 

 ceiving treatment. 



Blood was flowing from the 

 ears, indicating that there was a 

 fracture of the skull. He seemed 

 to be almost at death's door when 

 he was lifted into the ambulance 

 and carried to the home from 

 which he had gone in full health 

 and vigor but a few minutes be- 

 fore. The skull was found to be 

 fractured at the base of the brain. 

 The patient gradually sunk, and 

 at 11:50 p. m. life passed away. 



The name of Prof. C. V. Riley is 

 a familiar one to our readers. He 

 appeals to them as the author of 

 some of the mostuinteresting pa- 

 pers which we have published in 

 the Scientific American and Supple- 

 ment, and many of our readers are 

 under special obligations to him 

 for the work he has done in solv- 

 ing problems in entomology. In 

 the scientific world it may be said 

 that no entomologist stands higher 

 than he. His career is of special 

 interest as showing the typical 

 self-made man, whose life is iden- 

 tified with America, and whose 

 first steps, after his school and 

 college days, were taken on the 

 farm and in the service of the 

 press. 



We cannot do better than re- 

 peat here the interesting sketch of 

 Prof. Riley's life and labors given 

 not long ago in these columns. 



Charles Valentine Riley was 

 born in London, September 18, 

 1843. His early life was spent in 

 rural England, much of it in the 

 pretty village Walton-on-the- 

 Thames, between Hampton Court 

 and Windsor. At the age of 11, 

 he entered the College of St. Paul, 

 Dieppe, France. After three years' 

 attendance there he spent three 

 years more in a private school in 

 Bonn, Prussia. 



Even in these early days his tal- 

 ent for drawing was [ noticeable, 

 and curiously enough, as an indi- 

 cation of the future he had a great 

 fancy for producing exquisite de- 

 lineations of butterflies, moths and 

 other insects. 



While his drawing teacher, Prof. 

 A. Hoe, was urging him to repair 

 to Paris and devote himself to art, 

 he was by family circumstances 

 thrown upon his own rosources, 

 and at the early age of 17 he sailed 

 for'America,-went West and^settled 

 with Mr. G. H. Edwards, Kanka- 

 kee County, Illinois, on a stock 

 farm. 



Three years were spent here, 

 years during which the boy was 

 distinguished by his love of work 

 and by a most marked tendency 

 for original research, which took 

 the direction[]of the improvement 

 of farm processes and of farm 

 stock. Those who know him say 

 that there is but little doubt that 

 he would have made a mark as an 

 advanced agriculturist had not his 

 health failed him under the great 

 strain, so that at the age of 20 

 years he went to Chicago. Here 

 he had his early trials. He actu- 

 ally worked in a pork packing es- 

 tablishment, made portraits of his 

 fellow boarders and made sketches 

 which he personally sold to ap- 

 preciative purchasers. At last he 

 obtained an engagement as a re- 

 porter on the Evening Journal, 

 and next changed to the Prairie 

 Farmer, at that time the leading 

 agricultural paper of the West. 

 His especial department was bot- 

 any and entomology, and in the 

 interest of that department he 

 traveled extensively. His enthu- 

 siasm, industry and versatility 

 soon made his services invaluable. 

 A curious illustration of the bent 

 of his mind is shown in the fact 

 that he here learned type-setting 

 simply because he was determined 

 to have some trade at his com- 

 mand. The development of in- 

 sects was one of his main studies, 

 and the results of many original 

 investigations and the answers to 

 many inquiries were published by 

 him in this paper. In May, 1864, 

 he enlisted in the army, serving 

 for six months with the 134th Illi- 

 nois volunteers. The regiment 

 disbanding six months later he re- 

 turned to his paper, severing his 

 connection with it in the spring of 

 1868 to accept the office of State 

 Entomologist for Missouri. At 

 last we find him fully launched 

 upon his career, and from 1868 to 

 1877 he did the work which firmly 

 established his international fame. 



His salary was but $3,000 per 

 annum and there was no allowance 

 for expenses, yet out of this 



