784 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 075 



at the expense of great labor, and witli 

 very slight remuneration from the govern- 

 ment. With the death of Professor Tar- 

 gioni-Tozzetti in 1902, Professor Berlese 

 was made Director of the Royal Station for 

 Agricultural Entomology at Florence, and 

 Professor Silvestri succeeded him in the 

 chair at Portici, the latter retaining Dr. 

 Leonardi as his principal assistant. The 

 technical staff of the Entomological Sta- 

 tion at Florence is now as follows : Di- 

 rector, Professor A. Berlese; assistants. 

 Professor G. del Guercio and Dr. C. 

 Ribaga; in addition Dr. Paoli is engaged 

 for work against the olive fly, and there 

 is a subordinate staff which consists of a 

 curator, a preparator, a mechanic and a 

 gardener. The funds for the carrying on 

 of the station amount to 16,000 lire per 

 annum. In addition to these funds the 

 government provides separate sums for ex- 

 periments in different parts of the country, 

 and for study in the different provinces, 

 and sometimes these funds are large. Just 

 at present large appropriations have been 

 made for the study of the olive fly, and 

 means to combat it. The station is in- 

 tensely occupied with this problem at the 

 present time, and field experiments are 

 being made in various parts of the olive 

 regions of the kingdom. Professor Ber- 

 lese informs the writer that in Maremma 

 in Tuscany the results already are satis- 

 factory, and this year it is expected that 

 the work will be completed. 



At Portici the work includes instruction 

 in entomology, experimental work in co- 

 operation with the station at Florence, and 

 a great deal of original work of the highest 

 character is being carried on by both 

 Silvestri and Leonardi. The force consists 

 of these two men. Professor Silvestri being 

 director, as previously stated, another as- 

 sistant. Dr. G. Martelli, and a preparator. 

 The laboratories at Portici are commodious, 

 and the historic old palace in which they 



are situated is surrounded with beautiful 

 gardens. 



FRANCE 



In 1894 a Department of Agricultural 

 Entomology had just been founded at the 

 Agronomical Institute at Paris. This 

 office has since been termed the entomo- 

 logical station, and Dr. Paul Marchal has 

 been at its head working under the Min- 

 istry of Agriculture. 



The headquarters of the station are still 

 at the National Agronomical Institute, No. 

 16 Rue Claude Bernard. Dr. Marchal is 

 well equipped for the important work upon 

 which he is engaged; but he has but one 

 assistant, who is not a scientific man, but 

 whom he has trained himself to act as a 

 preparator ; he has one small room and two 

 halls; no experimental field, the most of 

 his observations having been carried on 

 in his home garden in the suburbs of Paris, 

 where his rearing cages are established. 

 Dr. Marchal is also professor of zoology 

 as applied to agriculture in the Agronom- 

 ical Institute, and in this work he has a 

 tutor (Monsieur Grenaux) who is busy 

 Avith the students in the preparation for 

 their examinations, and in the arrangement 

 of their courses. As professor of zoology 

 Dr. Marchal gives thirty courses, one and 

 one half hour each, twice a week from 

 October 15 to February 15. The greater • 

 part of these courses is reserved for in- 

 sects; three lessons are given to silk cul- 

 ture; three to bee culture, and one to 

 oyster culture. There are a special lecturer 

 on fish culture, and a professor of 

 zootechny. The work that has been accom- 

 plished by Dr. Marchal under these ad- 

 verse circumstances is remarkable, his 

 latest labors resulting in the establishment 

 of the phenomenon of polyembryony in 

 certain parasitic insects are of profound 

 scientific value, and, as we have already 

 found in this coiintry, possess a most im- 



