626 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917. 



bados to the British Museum in spirit there was found a tiny grub. 

 Its appearance and the manner of its attachment suggested that it 

 belonged to one of the Scoliidae, those Solitary Wasps which par- 

 alyse Lamellicorn larvae so that they may form food for their own 

 3^oung — an operation well known to us all from the account by 

 Fabre. Further research proved the grub to be the larva of a species 

 of Tiphia^ a Scoliid common in Barbados, though its economic im- 

 portance had not been realised. An allied species of Scoliid exists 

 in Mauritius but has not attacked the invader, which being thus 

 quit of its original enemies has multiplied to the enormous extent 

 previously described. 



The Phytalus larva had no doubt been introduced into Mauritius 

 with some cane cuttings imported from the West Indies a few years 

 before. It now became an important matter to introduce the Bar- 

 bados Tljjhia. This was less easy, for the voyage is a long one; 

 the insects died on the way, and more than one attempt had to be 

 made before success was finally achieved. The wasp is now estab- 

 lished in Mauritius and has begun to spread, so that the future of 

 the sugar plantations is assured.^ 



I have recounted this romance of modern science at some length, 

 not because of its genuine interest nor because of the large property 

 at stake, but because it shows Avith unquestionable clearness the pre- 

 cise part that should be played by a museum in all enquiries such as 

 those mentioned in the article on National Work at the Natural 

 History Museum (Museums Journal, XVII, pp. 120-125, February, 

 1918) and indeed can only be played by a museum with its great 

 collections and its staff of specialists. For, note these points : Until 

 the insect was accurately determined no successful remedy could be 

 suggested. The insect could not be determined by the very capable 

 entomologist of Mauritius in the absence of the necessary collections 

 for comparison. Indeed, since the species had never been described, 

 it was possible to run it to earth only by means of the great collec- 

 tion that has been accumulating for over a century at the British 

 Museum. Although the museum specimens were not actually named, 

 still they were properly arranged in their correct genus and family, 

 so that the specialist capable of determining the genus of the Mau- 

 ritian specimens was able to make his comparison without ransack- 

 ing the whole insect collection. Finally the museum specimens re- 

 tained their original locality label. The suggestion that the larva 

 might have been imported from America was made as soon as the 

 genus was correctly identified, but the Mauritian authorities re- 

 garded it as quite improbable. It was the actual running down of 



1 For technical details, see offlcial report by D. d'Emmerez de Charmoy, Port Louis, 

 Mauritius, 1912 ; and G. J. Arrow, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist, April, 1912. 



