252 SMITHSOxMIAN M ISCKLI.ANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL.84 



day. Neither Berlese nor Silvestri spoke English. The latter, how- 

 ever, spoke a little French and acted as interpreter between Berlese 

 and myself. A mutual friendship was begun by that visit, which lasted 

 until Berlese's lamented death in October, 1927. 



One of the insects to which Berlese paid rather especial attention 

 and about which he published important papers was the olive-fly ; and 

 this suggests a story. 



Some months after my return to Washington, the Secretary of 

 Agriculture, James Wilson, sent for me and told me that he had been 

 dining the night before at the White House and had met a charming 

 Italian princess who told him that, knowing the great reputation of 

 the Americans in such practical matters as the destruction of insect 

 I^ests, she had come to America largely to consult him about the olive- 

 fly and had asked the President to place her at Mr. Wilson's side in 

 order that she might learn from him. Of course the Secretary told 

 her that the olive-fly does not occur in this country and that he knew 

 nothing about insects himself but that he would send an expert- ento- 

 mologist to see her the next day. So he sent me in his carriage, with 

 a card of introduction, to call upon the princess at a house which she 

 and her husband had leased for the season on the corner of Twentieth 

 and Q Streets. The very charming lady told me her story, and said 

 that her husband's olive orchards, which were very large and brought 

 him in a large income, were so badly damaged by the olive-fly that 

 it had become a very serious matter to them. I asked where the 

 groves were situated, and when she replied that they were near 

 Naples, in fact between Naples and Portici, I was able to assure her 

 that the one man in the world who knew most about the subject lived 

 at Portici and that his name was x'Vntonio Berlese. (She was the 

 Principessa Brancaccio.) 



Between 1902 and 1905 (the date of my next visit to Italy) Ber- 

 lese had succeeded Targioni-Tozzetti as the head of the Station for 

 Agricultural Entomology in the museum at Florence, and Filippo 

 Silvestri had been appointed to fill his place in the Agricultural Col- 

 lege at Portici. I never knew just why Del Guercio did not succeed 

 Targioni-Tozzetti at Florence, but there was undoubtedly a reason 

 which seemed sufficient to the authorities. 



G. Leonard! was the principal assistant of Silvestri. He was a man 

 of small stature and rather delicate appearance, and seemed to 

 be very modest. Silvestri, however, was and is a tall, handsome man 

 of great personal charm and obviously a forceful character. 



Silvestri as indicated in a previous paragraph, had been an assis- 

 tant to Berlese before the latter left Portici, and they were surely 



