THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 55 



has the habil of migrating from plums and apricots to a species of 

 reed grass, Phragmites communis. This knowledge is of practical 

 importance in that it might be possible to reduce the numbers of this 

 pesl in an orchard by the destruction of the alternate host plants which 

 may occur near by. Indications, however, point to the fad that the 

 bodied planl lice may travel miles from orchards to these other 

 food plants, thus the destruction of host plants near by might not 

 result in complete control. 



The article by Professor Gillette was read at the Stanford convention 

 in July. 1915, and has never been published. Coming from one of the 

 greatest authorities on plant lice in America, its value to the readers 

 of the Monthly Bulletin is unquestioned. — G. P. "W. 



The Entomological Explorer. — It is unfortunate, but it is a fact, 



that many good people look upon these missions to foreign lands in 

 quest of beneficial insects as sinecures, or, as some of the more out- 

 spoken say. "joy rides." The recipient of a commission as parasite 

 collector is heartily congratulated on his good fortune and is greatly 

 envied his opportunity for a fine trip at someone's else expense — by those 

 who do not know. But parasite collecting is far from being a pleasure 

 trip. The responsibility that a collector has to carry is no small item, 

 and the many disappointments alone that are bound to come to him 

 in the course of his work, through no fault of his, are sufficient to 

 destroy what little pleasure he might otherwise find in his travels. It is 

 no easy matter to transport living parasitic insects from such far away 

 countries as India or Australia to California, and one can easily imagine 

 the feeling of discouragement a collector experiences when he learns 

 that a shipment of parasites which he has spent weeks of hardship to 

 accumulate arrived at its destination in a dead or dying condition. 

 The constant fight with excessive moisture causing mold, or excessive 

 dryness, which is quite as had, with the difficulties in the way of 

 shipping potted plants long distances, with the refusal of some insects 

 to breed in confinement, with the danger of secondary parasites, with 

 suspicious transportation officials and with steamship delays, are things 

 which are unknown to the critics of this work, but which are very real 

 to the parasite collector. Parasites have no regard for the eight-hour 

 day. for Sundays and holidays or for rainy weather, and Koebele well 

 expressed this when he said. "It was in the early morning, with nothing 

 hut a cup of black coffee for breakfast, that I regularly had to leave the 

 hotel for the fields, regardless of the day or of atmospheric conditions. 

 Dinner had to he taken at night — too late for meals at the hotel where 

 T had paid for same and. tired and worn out. I had yet to hunt up 

 some restaurant for a late supper." And even Koebele had his critics. 

 And these are not all the difficulties with which he has to contend. 

 Traveling in semicivilized regions, eating and sleeping in places which 

 are almost unbearable and where safe drinking water is unknown, he 

 is continually risking his health and even his life through contracting 

 typhoid, dysentery and other unpleasant things. One of our collectors 

 n ntly had to have a military guard to protect him from the head- 

 hunters of Formosa ! And what is the financial reward for braving all 

 dangers and disappointments, and for spending years in highly 

 specialized study for preparation? Usually about what is paid to a 

 first-class shoe clerk in a California shoe store. Parasite collecting 



