Charles Valentine Riley

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Charles Valentine Riley
Naturalized American citizen
Scientific career
FieldsEntomology

Charles Valentine Riley (18 September 1843 – 14 September 1895) was a British-born American

entomologist and artist. He was one of the first individuals to use biological pest control and authored over 2,400 publications. He convinced Congress to create the United States Entomological Commission
and was among the founders of the American Association of Economic Entomologists.

Early life

The son of a

public school there. Sometime later his mother remarried which may have played a part in his decision, taken at the age of seventeen, to cross the Atlantic Ocean to America with scant resources.[2][3][4]

Riley's journey west ended in the

134th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, mustering out before the end of 1864 after fulfilling his one-hundred day enlistment commitment.[5][6][4][7][8]

Career

In 1868, he was appointed as the first State Entomologist for the State of Missouri. He collaborated on the annual reports from Missouri, work which established him as one of the leading entomologists in the United States.

Riley studied the plague of grasshoppers that invaded many Western States between 1873 and 1877. He convinced the United States Congress to establish the United States Entomological Commission, which included a Grasshopper Commission, to which Riley was appointed chairman.

In 1876, he was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.[9]

In 1878, he was appointed to the post of entomologist to the

insects for the Smithsonian Institution in 1885. Riley would later go on to donate his 100,000 piece insect specimen collection to them.[10]

Drawing by Charles Valentine Riley

He was one of the first to practice biological pest control, introducing a beetle that was the natural enemy to a scale that was damaging the California citrus industry. Because this method successfully reduced the scale, Riley is sometimes known as the "Father of Biological Control". He invented the “cyclone” or eddy chamber in nozzles for spraying purposes.[11]

He was among the first to notice that the American grapes,

Legion of Honor in 1884.[13]

A prolific writer, artist, and visionary, Riley authored over 2,400 publications. He published two journals, The American Entomologist (1868–80) and Insect Life (1889–94) and Riley was the first to recommend for the establishment of the Office of Experiment Stations, in 1878 before the National Agricultural Congress.[10] He received honorary degrees from Kansas State University and the University of Missouri. He was an honorary member of the Entomological Society of London and founder and first president of the Entomological Society of Washington. He and Dr. L. O. Howard, Riley's assistant in the Federal Entomological Service, were among the founders of the American Association of Economic Entomologists, which became part of Entomological Society of America in 1953. Riley was succeeded as State Entomologist of Missouri by Otto Lugger who served as an assistant in Riley's early years.

Marriage

On 20 June 1878 Riley married in

Washington D. C. on 10 December 1947, nearly a month shy of her 98th birthday (29 January 1948).[15][16][17][18]

Death

On 14 September 1895 Riley died as the result of a bicycle accident that occurred not far from his Washington, D.C., residence. As he was riding rapidly down a hill, the bicycle wheel struck a granite paving block dropped by a wagon. He catapulted to the pavement and fractured his skull. He was carried home on a wagon and never regained consciousness. He died at his home the same day just short of the age of 52, leaving his widow with six children.[19]

Notes

  1. ^ Washington, past and present : a history (1930–1932)
  2. ^ The European origins of scientific ecology, Volume 2 (1998) By Jean-Marc Drouin
  3. ^ Cyclopedia of American Agriculture: Farm and community (1910) edited by Liberty Hyde Baile
  4. ^ a b Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Volume 56 By Royal Agricultural Society of England
  5. ^ Science, Volume 2 By American Association for the Advancement of Science (1895)
  6. ^ Cyclopedia of American Agriculture: Farm and community (1910)edited by Liberty Hyde Baile
  7. ^ U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865 M539 roll 76
  8. ^ 1860 US Census Records
  9. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  10. ^ a b "Charles Valentine Riley Collection | Special Collections". specialcollections.nal.usda.gov. Retrieved 2019-06-26.
  11. ^ Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Riley, Charles Valentine" . Encyclopedia Americana.
  12. ^ Riley and his work on Phylloxera
  13. ^ Smith, C. M. (2005) Plant Resistance to Arthropods. Molecular and Conventional Approaches. Springer.
  14. ^ St. Louis, St. Louis County, Missouri, Registry of Deaths, Book J: 184, Georgine A. Conzelman; FHL microfilm 2,308,260.
  15. ^ 1860, 1870 & 1900 US Census Records
  16. ^ The Washington Post, 11 December 1947, p. B2.
  17. ^ Washington, past and present: a history (1930-1932)
  18. ^ US Passport Application (Emilie C. Riley) May 31, 1922
  19. ^ Charles Valentine Riley Collection Biographical Notes

References

External links
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Charles Valentine Riley
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