NARRATIVE OF PROGRESS OF WORK. 63 



sending, is now possibly established in New England, although it 

 was not recovered during the summers of 1909 and 1910. 



While at Marseilles interviewing Dr. Siepi, April 10, the news was 

 received of the eruption of Vesuvius and the partial destruction 

 by lava flow of Boscatrecase and other villages on the slope of 

 Vesuvius. Having to interview Prof. Silvestri and Dr. Leonardi at 

 Portici, and fearing for their safety, the visitor proceeded at once to 

 Naples, arriving there the day of the great market-house accident in 

 which the roof fell in from the weight of volcanic ash and a number 

 of persons were killed. Everything in Naples was in a state of con- 

 fusion; the streets were filled with volcanic ash almost knee-deep, 

 and it was with great difficulty that a conveyance could be secured 

 to drive to Portici. Portici is almost on a direct line between Naples 

 and Mount Vesuvius, and the agricultural college was found to be in 

 bad condition; the gardens were utterly destro3 x ed by ashes, and the 

 roof of the old building was deeply covered. The accident happened 

 the week before Easter, and the majority of the faculty and students 

 had, on account of the catastrophe, anticipated their Easter vacations 

 and had departed for their homes, Silvestri and Leonardi among the 

 rest. Letters were forwarded to them, however, giving detailed 

 suggestions as to methods of packing and shipment of parasites. 



As in 1905, Florence, Mian, Vienna, Budapest, Dresden, Tharandt, 

 and Zurich were visited. Efforts were made to learn of localities 

 where either the gipsy moth or the brown-tail moth might reasonably 

 be expected to be abundant during the summer of 1906, and a number 

 of such localities were learned and the information given to agents. 

 All of the agents and correspondents were given full instructions 

 regarding the work for the summer of 1906 and the winter of 1907. 

 The experience of 1905 with regard to the best methods of packing 

 and shipment and the best kinds of boxes used was related to all, 

 and these points were fully discussed, with the result that the 

 material received during the summer of 1906 was not only greater 

 in quantity but better in condition than that received during the 

 previous summer. 



In Vienna the visitor had the good fortune to find Dr. Gustav 

 Mayr, whom he had missed in the summer of 1905. Dr. Mayr (since 

 deceased) was the European authority on several of the groups of 

 parasites most intimately connected with the work hi hand, and the 

 writer had a long consultation with him concerning the systematic 

 position of some of the forms already imported and concerning the 

 practical possibilities of the whole series of Microhymenoptera. 

 Through him was learned the probable importance of certain egg 

 parasites of the brown-tail moth, which he himself had reared in 

 Europe and had described. As a result of this information the 

 agents visited later were instructed to send over egg masses of the 



