Leland Ossian Howard

Leland Ossian Howard (June 11, 1857 – May 1, 1950) was a pioneer American entomologist who worked in the US Department of Agriculture. Serving as the chief of the bureau of entomology, a successor to C.V. Riley, he helped establish economic entomology as a profession in the United States and strengthened research activities, helping establish laws to prevent the introduction of agricultural pests. He was a specialist on the parasitic wasp family Chalcididae, and contributed to the introduction of biological control agents for pest management. Howard also took an interest in medical entomology.

Early life Howard was born to Ossian Gregory Howard, a lawyer, and Lucy Denham Thurber on 11 June 1857. His relatives from his mother's side included the Harvard astronomer E.C. Pickering while other distant relatives included Senator J.M. Howard and President William Howard Taft. Shortly after his birth, the family moved from Rockford, to Ithaca, New York where his father worked with a law firm.

Career

In July 1878, on the recommendation of Professor Comstock, Howard applied for a post in the U.S. Department of Agriculture as an assistant entomologist to C.V. Riley. Despite the low salary ($100/month) and advice against joining it from many friends and family, he took up the job. Among his first tasks was to prepare a manual on sericulture which was published with Riley as the author. Riley was briefly replaced by Professor Comstock in 1880, and again many of his writings went under the authorship of Comstock. This was accepted practice after Riley's return in 1881, until Howard changed it when he rose to authority and ensured that all his co-workers were appropriately credited. When Riley died in a bicycle accident in 1894, Howard became chief of the Bureau of Entomology. He held the position until 1 October 1927. He continued to consult for the Bureau until officially retiring on 30 June 1931. He worked on the systematics of the parasitic Hymenoptera, biological control, and medical entomology of mosquitoes and other flies. the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1913, and the National Academy of Sciences in 1916. Since 1907, he was a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America.

Personal life Howard married Marie T. Clifton in 1886, "a girl with a glorious soprano voice", who he met while singing in a choir at college. They had three daughters. Howard was known for his interests in sports. Preventive and Remedial Work Against Mosquitoes, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology, 1910 The House Fly—Disease Carrier, Frederick A. Stokes company, 1911 Mosquitoes of North and Central America and the West Indies, Authors Leland Ossian Howard, Harrison Gray Dyar Jr., Frederick Knab, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1917 A History of Applied Entomology (Somewhat Anecdotal), Smithsonian Institution, 1930 The Insect Menace, Century, 1931 Fighting the insects: the story of an entomologist, MacMillan, 1933 (autobiography)