PARASITES IN INSECT CONTROL—-HOWARD 419 
The latest experiment of an international character and one which 
offers many possibilities and comparatively few complications is 
the effort made by the Government of Fiji to find effective para- 
sites for the so-called levuana caterpillar which damages the leaves 
of the cocoa palm to such an extent as to cause great alarm. 
Several men have been engaged in this work, notably Mr. John 
D. Tothill, of Canada (trained partly, by the way, in the Gypsy 
Moth Parasite Laboratory of the Bureau of Entomology), Mr. A. 
M. Lea, of Adelaide, Australia, Mr. Hubert W. Simmonds, and 
Mr. C. T. McNamara. Here it was impossible to find immediately 
the native home of the pest, but expeditions were sent to the Malay 
Archipelago and the parasites of allied species were studied with 
the result that, after one or two unsuccessful attempts were made, 
three enemies of the allied Artona catowantha were secured and bid 
fair to become established. One of them, a Tachinid (Pychomyia 
remota) immediately began to attack the levuana caterpillar “as 
if it had been attacking it from time immemorial ” (Tothill in lit.). 
Then there was a Clerid beetle (Callimerus arcuper) which in both 
larval and adult stages attacked the pests with enthusiasm. There 
was also a single female of a species of Mesostenus, from which a 
rearing has been made. In this work the question is arising as 
to the relative value of the Tachinid and Braconid and as to the 
possibilities of bad results from the rivalry of the two species. 
I have several times urged the wisdom of a large-scale attempt 
to import from abroad all parasitic and predatory insects which 
may be of help to us in our efforts to control imported pests. We 
could probably add to our fauna some hundreds of species which 
would be of positive assistance to us. We are really spreading out 
into such a scheme in many directions, and are learning, in some 
cases through mistakes and wasted effort, how it can be done most 
efficiently and economically. 
It is true that some admirable results have been obtained in the 
old, more or less haphazard way, and we have nothing but praise 
for Koebele and his Novius work and for the Hawaiian explorers. 
But it is now very evident that, in order thoroughly to exhaust 
the possibilities of success in the majority of cases, especially where 
continental areas are concerned, detailed studies, which may in 
general be called ecological, must be made both in the importing and 
exporting regions. 
All sorts of conditions will arise, some of which may be grouped 
as follows: 
(a) Where the insect and its parasites are well known in its 
home country and where competent entomologists are anxious to 
assist. 
(b) Where the original home of the pest is not known. 
