14 BULLETIN 1028, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



tnnity presents itself, but shows very little interest in large haiiy 

 caterpillars or in larvae which are destitute of hair or only sparsely 

 covered. 



PART II.— INTRODUCTION AND ESTABLISHMENT. 



EUROPEAN WORK.i- 



In January, 1911. Mr. W. F. Fiske. who was at that time in charge 

 of the parasite work under the direction of Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief 

 of Bureau, sailed for Italy to investigate the parasite situation. The 

 main object at that time was to make a study of conditions there and 

 to attempt to introduce on a large scale Chalcis favipes Panz., a 

 pupal parasite of the gipsy moth. Headquarters were located at 

 Naples and a vacant building was rented and fitted up for use as a 

 laboratory near the School of Agriculture at Portici. 



Early in February, 1911, Mr. Fiske visited several places in Sicily 

 to ascertain the field conditions and degrees of gipsy moth infesta- 

 tion preliminary to obtaining the Chalcis material. While there he 

 discovered that cocoons of a species of Apanteles were present in 

 " countless thousands." This came very much as a surprise, and he 

 determined to put most of his energies, even at the expense of pre- 

 vious plans, into an effort to send this parasite to America in as large 

 numbers as possible. 



The localities, a forest at San Pietro, Caltagirone, and the forests 

 back of Barcellona, in Sicily, were situated where the gipsj^-moth 

 larvae and cocoons were sufficiently abundant to warrant the collec- 

 tion of either in large numbers. Both places were some distance from 

 a railroad, and the location which gave more promise was the less 

 accessible of the two. As soon as the gipsy-moth larvae had hatched 

 and were of sufficient size to have been parasitized, collections of 

 larvae were begun. A foreman and crew were located at each place, 

 and the collections of larvae were started. The first larval collection 

 arrived from Caltagirone at Portici on May 14, and a few cocoons were 

 present at that time. When the collections arrived at Portici they 

 were placed in trays in the house which was rented for that purpose. 

 About a dozen Italian girls took care of the trays — ^that is, fed the 

 caterpillars, removed the parasite cocoons daily, and kept the trays 

 clean. These girls were very adept at this work, being familiar with 

 the care of silkAvorms and having assisted in handling alfalfa weevil 

 parasite material for shipment to America. 



As soon as the cocoons were removed from the trays they were 

 placed in cold storage to prevent the further development of the 

 parasites. 



"-The part of this report pertaining to European work is based on the correspondence of 

 Mr. W. r. Fiske whil:' in Europe. 



