mV) 
ed /™ 
ay MONTHLY LETTER OF THE BUREAU OF ‘ENTOMOLOGY 
| UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF Rae ee bene 
eis bee oe eS Ge 77 0, steed 1928 
ALBERT KOEBELE S x / 
_. £ 
Word has just come that Albert Koebele died at Waldkirch, “Germany, 
December 28, 1924. 
Koebele, then a young. man (he was 72 at the time of his death), join- 
ed the entomological force of the United States Department of Agriculture 
in the winter of 1881-82. Professor Riley had found him at a meeting of 
the Brooklyn Entomological Society and had been much impressed with his 
skill as collector and preparator. He was sent to Florida and Georgia in 
the spring of 1882 to work on the. possible hibernation of Alabama argillacea. 
In 18835. he went with the late John C.-:Branner to Brazil, where they stayed 
four months in the country around Bahia and Pernambuco, studying cotton in- 
sects. In 1885 Koebele was ‘transferred to California, where he worked upon 
various economic insects and settled at Alameda. During the summer and fall 
of 1888 and the winter of 1888-89 he.was-in Australia searching for natural - 
enemies of the fluted scale. .On this trip his salary was paid by the Depart- 
ment, but his expenses were paid by the Department of State, which had an ap- 
propriation for an exhibit at the Melbourne Exposition. As a partial. com- 
pensation for this expenditure of exposition funds, F. M. Webster was sent at 
the same time to Australia by the United States Department of Agriculture to 
make a report to the United States Commission on the agricultural features of 
the exposition, 
During this trip Koevele discovered the famous Vedalia (Novius) pomnaEs 
and sent it in living condition to Los Angeles, where it was colonized and 
acclimatized under the supervision of D. W.. Coquillet. This was the first 
successful experiment in the internationa 1 handling of natural enemies 
of destructive insects and at once made Koebele famous. 
In 1891 he sailed again for Australia under a California appropriation 
of $5,000 to collect parasites and predatory insects, his salary still being 
paid by the Department of Agriculture. On-.this trip he sent over a number of 
beneficial insects from which much.was expected, the only sel sie singly 
effective one being the ladybird Cryptolaemus monirouztert. 
He resigned from the Department on September 30, 1895, and later was 
employed by the Sugar Planters! Sarees of Hawaii and made trips to the 
Orient and Central America in-search of beneficial insects, and is responsible 
for many importations into Hawaii, some of which proved very beneficial. 
About 1912 or 1913 his Health failed and he went back to his old home in 
) Germany, expecting later to resume his residence in the United States, but he 
never recovered, and stayed there an invalid until the time of his death. 
Koebele was one of the best collectors ever known. He was a keen ob- 
gerver and a marvelous preparator, He was a quiet, modest man, and an 
indefatigable worker. His name will always be associated with the pioneer 
