1906.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT No. 73. 127 



My efforts to import Calosoma sycophanta and Calosoma inquis- 

 itor during the season have failed. Professor Leonardi started 

 200 specimens from Sardinia, but all were dead on arrival in 

 Boston. This may possibly have been due to the roundabout 

 journey, since they were shipped by mail to London, thence to 

 New York and thence to Boston. Had they gone by direct 

 steamer from Naples to Boston, and especially had they been 

 placed, if not in the ice box, at least in a cool apartment of the 

 steamer, better results would probably have been gained. Although 

 the American Calosomas hibernate as adults, and although through 

 our European agents probably 500 European entomologists have 

 been searching for these species since the autumnal frosts, not a 

 single specimen has been found. My earlier attempts to import 

 these species into this country were all failures, but I have everv 

 hope that during the coming summer we may be able to succeed. 

 Some three years ago Dr. Yngve Sjostedt of Stockholm carried a 

 number of specimens of the American Calosoma scrutator from 

 Washington to Sweden with success, so that it surely must be 

 possible for the European species to make the return journey. 



The whole of the European range of both species is now organ- 

 ized with the exception of Russia, and continuous sendiugs of both 

 species will be received at Boston for the next two years at least. 

 It seems to me that there is every reason to expect success in the 

 establishment of at least some of the European parasites. 



FUNGOUS DISEASE OF THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH. 



During the latter part of June, 1905, several observers 

 reported that a fungous disease bad killed a great many 

 brown-tail moth caterpillars. This disease was first reported 

 from Wakefield, but was also found in about a dozen other 

 towns where the caterpillars were plentiful. In many cases 

 an entire tree trunk for several feet would be found covered 

 with the bodies of the caterpillars, attached to the bark by 

 the funo'ous filaments. This disease also worked to a re- 



O 



markable degree in the masses of cocoons, from which in 

 some cases but few living pupas could be obtained. 



As soon as the disease was reported, Dr. George E. Stone, 

 botanist, Massachusetts Agricultural College, was called to 

 investigate and experiment with this disease, to determine 

 if it could be made of any practical value in fighting the 

 caterpillars. Unfortunately for this latter part of the work, 



