Journal of Facts in Natural History - Volume 2, 1867-1869

**Help us wrap this up!** Do you like a real challenge? Are you interested in insects or an amateur entomologist? Benjamin Dann Walsh, the first state entomologist of Illinois, penned a two-volume set of field notes entitled ?Journal of Facts in Natural History? recording his field activity in the Rock Island, Illinois area of the Mississippi River from 1867 to 1869. Digital volunteers have already transcribed his first volume. Try your hand at transcribing this second volume of Walsh?s detailed notes of insects in this region and help us expand our understanding of Mississippi River biodiversity during the Civil War. Walsh (1808-1869) was born in Great Britain and educated for a career in the Church of England, but chose to become a writer and emigrate to the United States where he became a farmer and lumber dealer before making a career of entomology. A year after the study recorded in his ?Journal of Facts in Natural History, Walsh became state entomologist of Illinois in 1867 and, with Charles Valentine Riley, founded the American Entomologist in 1868, a year before his death. Over the course of his entomology career, Walsh is credited with over 850 publications.