IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
29 
connected with the Iowa State College, he gave instruction in geology. Prof. 
Osborn is one of the starred men in Dr. Cattell’s Men of Science. He has been 
connected in various ways with the Bureau of Entomology of the U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture since 1885. This story was related to me. Some years 
ago when R. P. Clarkson, formerly publisher of the Register and Leader and 
at one time trustee of the college, was in Washington he met Norman J. Colman, 
who was then secretary of agriculture. The secretary inquired about Prof. 
Osborn, stating that he was a valuable man and that the state could not 
afford to lose his service. Mr. Clarkson came back with a profound respect 
for the work Osborn was doing in Iowa. 
Herbert Osborn was born in Lafayette, Wisconsin, March 19, 1856; B. S. 
Iowa State College, 1879; M. S. in 1880; attended the Harvard University, 
working with Dr. Plagen 1881-1882; Naples Zoological Station 1894-1895; As- 
sistant in Zoology and Entomology, Iowa State College, 1879-1883; Assistant 
Professor 1883-1885; Professor 1885-1898; since 1898 Professor of Zoology in 
Ohio State University. 
It has been my pleasure to have been closely associated with Prof. Osborn 
as a neighbor on the college campus and in teaching and experiment work. I 
owe my coming to Ames largely to Prof. Osborn. He is an inspiring teacher, 
a thorough master of his work. There are few entomologists in the country 
who have inspired more men to seek entomology as a profession than has 
Prof. Osborn. Many of the men who have taken entomological work under 
him are holding responsible positions in American colleges, experiment station, 
and government work. Prof. Osborn is quiet and unassuming, but his fund 
of entomological knowledge is great and he knows how to put his material 
together in good shape for both the scientist and the practical man. It is 
difficult for me to give you in a few words the amount of important work he 
has accomplished. His chief entomological work has been perhaps along the 
lines of Jassidae, insects important to the farmer because of the damage they 
do to our forage plants. In the Ohio State University Bulletin, Volume 12, 
Number 12, issued in 1908, are seven pages of titles of papers by Prof. Osborn 
beginning with publications in the Transactions of the Iowa State Horti- 
cultural Society for 1878. The college paper Aurora for May, 1879, contains 
one of his papers, “A Grub with Legs on its Back.” The forerunner of the 
present Academy published in 1880 contains a paper on Native Rhopalocera 
and Sphingidae. Running through the various reports of the Iowa State 
Horticultural Society up to the time that his labors in Iowa ceased will be 
found papers dealing with the various insects injurious to horticulture. One 
of the early College Bulletins, 1884, contained several papers on economic 
insects; a subsequent bulletin issued in 1888 contains more economic notes. 
His interest in animal parasites began quite early in his entomological career. 
In 1882-1883, in the Proceedings of the Iowa Improved Stock Breeders’ Asso- 
ciation, he published a paper on Life Histories of Internal Parasites of Do- 
mestic Animals; subsequently he published many other contributions cul- 
minating in the most important treatise on the subject which has appeared 
in this country, namely. Insects Affecting Domestic Animals*. He has pub- 
lished many monographs, among them papers on The Genus Scaphoideus** ; 
Review of the North American Species of Athysanus, Jassidae***, with Dr. 
E. D. Ball; The Jassidae of New York State****. ProL Osborn has published 
*Bull. Div. Ent. N. S. U. S'. Dent. Ast. .7:302. 1896. 
*"’=Jour. Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist. 19:189-209, 2 pi. 1900. 
=s^!*Ohio Naturalist. .3:231-256. 
***"Report of the State Entomologist of New York. 190.7:498-540. 
