WHOLE VOL. APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY — HOWARD 331 



in the problem of this new enemy of the vine was very great from 

 the start. The agricultural newspapers of the period were filled with 

 notices of the ravages of the pest and with observations and instruc- 

 tions relative to the means of combating it that had been proposed 

 not only in Portugal but also in foreign countries. Especial studies 

 were made of the hitherto unknown plague, and laws and regulations 

 were promulgated by the Government just as they were by govern- 

 ments in many other parts of the world but especially in Europe. 



Govermental investigation was not begun for a long time. The 

 Portuguese, however, followed closely everything that was being 

 done in France. Questions relating to crop pests were handled in a 

 way, at the Agricultural Institute by Professor Verissimo d'Almeida, 

 while Profs. Barbosa du Bochage and Matoso Santos of the Univer- 

 sity at Lisbon and Paulino d'Oliveira and Lopes Vieira of the Univer- 

 sity of Coinibra studied the plant parasites that were brought to them 

 by farmers or sent to them in correspondence. 



In 1899, however, Carlos LeCocq, then Agricultural Engineer. 

 organized the Laboratory of Vegetable Pathology and installed it in 

 the building of the Ministry of Agriculture. It was composed of two 

 sections, one for cryptogamy and the other for entomology. It was a 

 good working organization, each section having a chief (trained as 

 an Agricultural Engineer) and each was aided by a preparator and 

 auxiliary personnel. Senhor LeCocq was afterwards made Director 

 General. 



The newly founded laboratory was for some time in a very flour- 

 ishing condition, and many species of injurious insects were studied, 

 and remedies put into effect. The incident which first brought this 

 laboratory and the Bureau of Entomology at Washington together 

 was as follows : The white or fluted scale, Icerya purchasi, in the 

 late i88o's made its appearance in the orange and lemon groves along 

 the banks of the river Tagus in Portugal. It multiplied enormously, 

 and disaster was threatened. In September, 1896, the attention of the 

 Washington Bureau was drawn to this matter by Senhor Armando 

 da Silva. In reply, I suggested the importation of the Australian 

 ladybird, Noviiis cardinalis, and while awaiting his reply I received 

 a letter from Senhor LeCocq, with whom Senhor da Silva had been 

 in communication and with whom the subsequent correspondence 

 was carried on. There was newspaper discussion of the matter in 

 Portugal, and I am informed that many prominent persons over 

 there thought that the California experience was based on untrust- 

 worthy evidence and that the whole matter was an instance of Ameri- 



