9 
[269] 
ose, Gov. Palmer authorized me to visit Rock Island and effect 
le purchase. Some of the details of this transaction were pub- 
shed in the newspapers at the time, and need not be here re- 
eated. It may be stated in a few words, that this collection em- 
races all the orders of insects, that it is estimated to contain about 
lirty thousand specimens, well preserved and admirably mounted, 
nd most of the species scientifically named \ and that it was the 
3 sult of ten years’ assiduous labor by this able and enthusiastic en- 
)mologist. The price paid for it was twenty-five hundred dollars, 
filich sum also covered a considerable balance ot salary due to 
Ir. Walsh at the time of his death. I may here add that I have 
een both surprised and gratified at the universal expression of 
atisfaction by men of intelligence, wherever my official travels 
Lave carried me, at the accomplishment of this purchase, and I 
Lave heard no intimation that the sum paid for this cabinet was 
njudiciously expended. The cabinet is deposited, for the present, 
n the fire-proof building of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. 
Next in value to a collection of the insects themselves, are cor- 
ectly drawn figures. With respect to availability, a well illus- 
rated book must even take the precedence of a cabinet, since the 
>ook can be obtained at a comparatively trifling cost, and may be 
ilways at hand. It is in this way that Mr. C. Y. Riley, State En- 
omologist of Missouri, has done an excellent work in the cause of 
Yestern economic entomology. The figures with which his val- 
lable Reports are illustrated, are remarkable for their accuracy, 
md one can never be at a loss, in referring to them, to identify 
my of the species illustrated. 
And in this connection, I cannot help referring to the extensive 
md valuable series of plates illustrative of the entomology of the 
United States, and with special reference to the injurious species, 
In all their stages, in the course of preparation by Mr. Townend 
Glover, Entomologist to the Department of Agriculture at Wash¬ 
ington. 
The work consists of a great number of figures etched upon 
copper, many figures upon the same plate so as to economize 
space and material, and thus reduce the cost and price of the pub¬ 
lication. The plates have already reached the following num¬ 
bers : forty-five plates of Coleoptera, six of Orthoptera, seven of 
Neuroptera, ten of Hymenoptera, one hundred and nineteen of 
Yol. II—34: 
