380 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 7 



the mayor who could be prevailed upon to receive these cocoons and 

 pay for them at the rate of one centesimo each and forward them to 

 Fiske at Portici. The assistant objected. He said it was not good 

 form to call on the mayor in this unceremonious way and he refused 

 to do it; so they finally compromised on the assessor. Again there 

 were objections, but presently the assistant went, and came back with 

 a queer look on his face. He had visited the assessor, it appeared, 

 but the latter was very much inclined to think that he had either an 

 idiot or a madman to deal with, but he said he would see the forest 

 guards and see if there would likely be anything out of the way in 

 allowing them to take advantage of such an offer. 



The next morning about six o'clock two forest guards, two children, 

 and a number of dogs proceeded with them to the forest where he 

 gave them a demonstration of what he wanted. At first it was a flat 

 failure. The guards could not find any cocoons themselves, nor could 

 the boys, but by working hard himself and showing the boys where the 

 cocoons lay he succeeded in getting them to pick up ten each, and re- 

 warded them each with a couple of soldi. This livened things up a bit. 

 The guards still could not find the cocoons, but the boys were beginning 

 to see light, and before long they began to collect them in some num- 

 bers and kept Fiske fairly busy counting them and paying over 

 soldi. The guards watched the transfer in growing amazement and 

 enthusiasm, and at the end of an hour they all went back to town, the 

 boys with about three lire between them and Fiske with three hundred 

 parasite cocoons. 



The guards stated to the assessor that the operation was of no pos- 

 sible danger to the forest, one of them insisting that the Limnerium was 

 a species of fruit and that it grew on the foliage and that they themselves 

 would gladly undertake the collection of the cocoons, or rather the 

 payment for them, for the 10 per cent commission offered. But there 

 was a fiesta on, and any chance of getting anything further done that 

 day was out of the question. Fiske wanted the boys to go back and 

 take some more boys with them, but they deserted him before they got 

 half way back to town. The combination of a Zira. apiece and a fiesta 

 on the self-same day was one which might never come again in a life- 

 time and they proposed to make the most of it. 



The next morning at seven the forest guards returned and Fiske 

 explained the full details of the scheme, offered to advance three hun- 

 dred lire (about sixty dollars) and thereafter pay for every shipment 

 as they were received at Portici. He set the limit of expenditure at 

 fifteen hundred lire and the time at two weeks. The offer was ac- 

 cepted, and he hurried to Messina and cashed a check, returning the 

 same night to sign the agreement. During the day the guards had 



