280 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



winter, and presenting conditions which would seem to be the 

 very ones most favorable for the presence of injurious insects. 



Southward of this region lies the valley of the Po, with the flat, 

 open country of Lombardy and Piedmont, which has practically 

 a continental climate cold and windy in winter colder even 

 than England at some seasons and with sharp changes of tem 

 perature and a very humid atmosphere, and hot, in summer, as 

 Sicily. Beyond the Appenines Tuscany and the region about 

 Florence is reached, which is again a great wine and olive dis 

 trict, with the lemon and orange growing safely out-of-doors. 

 The Campagna of Rome and central Italy is devoted largely to 

 the growth of cereals and to pasturage. About Naples the vege 

 tation is somewhat more tropical, and the citrus fruits, and es 

 pecially olives, are extensively grown. In January it frequently 

 freezes, and the orange and lemon groves which stud the sides of 

 the precipitous mountains along the coast from Salerno, Amalfi, 

 and Sorrento to Naples have generally to be protected in mid 

 winter, usually by a hastily constructed shed covered with boughs 

 of trees. The construction of these sheds was in progress every 

 where at the time of my visit in November. 



As careful examination was made throughout the region thus 

 briefly described as was possible with the time at command for 

 indications of presence of insects. With the exception of the olive- 

 fruit fly, however, no insect damage of any moment was noted. 

 Scale-insects were almost wanting, and this holds true even of the 

 more neglected orchards and gardens where their presence would 

 be manifest, if at all. 



The principal entomological station of Italy is located at Flor 

 ence, viz., the Roy ale Stazione d 1 Entomologia agraria, estab 

 lished in 1875. The director of the station, Prof. A. Targioni 

 Tozzetti, was unfortunately absent during the week spent by the 

 writer in Florence. The library, laboratory if the meagre facil 

 ities provided may be so called and the insect collections, both 

 economic and systematic, are in the Royale Musco di Storia 

 Naturale, Via Romana, 19, in connection with which Prof. 

 Tozzetti fills the chair of Comparative Anatomy and Zoology of 

 the Invertebrates, in addition to his duties as Director of the 

 Entomological Station. Under the guidance of Prof. Tozzetti's 

 museum assistant, Dr. Angelo Senna, a survey of the entomo- 



