NARRATIVE OF PROGRESS OF WORK. 69 



designate each species, and by which to correlate it with published 

 accounts of observations already made. With the assistance of Dr. 

 O. Schmiedeknecht, of Cassel, Germany, a number of these forms had 

 been named, but with others it seemed practically impossible to bring 

 this about by correspondence. As a result, on the trip in question 

 the writer made an effort, by studying the collections in some of the 

 principal European museums, to determine a few of the unnamed 

 forms reared in America from European material. The difficulty of 

 this search was surprising. The Pteromalus, for example, which had 

 been reared in Boston by scores of thousands and which, there- 

 fore, must be a very common European insect, was found to be 

 absolutely unrepresented in the large natural history museums of 

 Vienna, Dresden, Berlin, Brussels, and London; nor did it occur in 

 the type collections of Ratzeburg carefully preserved by Dr. Eck- 

 stein at the Forest Academy at Eberswalde, where, on account of 

 Ratzeburg's important work on the parasites of European forest 

 insects, one would naturally expect to find it. At last, in a small 

 special collection in the Museum of Natural History in the Jardin 

 des Plantes at Paris, Mr. H. du Buysson of the museum found in the 

 laboratory a box containing parasites reared many years ago by the 

 French entomologist, Sichel, which had been named for him by the 

 eminent authority on parasitic Hymenoptera, Arnold Forster, of 

 Germany. In this box were specimens of the Pteromalus labeled 

 "PL egregius" in the handwriting of Forster himself. 



Especial efforts were made on the trip to arrange for the importa- 

 tion of large numbers of the egg parasites of both species and to 

 introduce in living condition the important parasites of the genus 

 Apanteles, which, according to the visitor's field observations, are 

 among the most important of the European enemies of the gipsy 

 moth. Previous importations of these parasites had failed, owing 

 to the fact that they emerged and died on the journey. On this 

 trip, however, specific directions were given to agents to send in 

 young larvae of the second stage, and by this means living specimens 

 in considerable numbers were later reared in the laboratory at North 

 Saugus. These on issuing laid their eggs in the gipsy-moth larvae 

 of the first stage, and from these caterpillars were secured the 

 cocoons of adults of a second generation which was reared through 

 all of its stages on American soil. 



From Kief there were received two species hitherto unknown as 

 parasites of the gipsy moth, and one of these, being a rapid breeder, 

 promised to be of much assistance. This species, belonging to the 

 genus Meteorus, seemed to produce cocoons in about 10 days after 

 egg laying, and will be considered later in this bulletin. 



We have previously referred to the destruction in 1906 of the 

 great bulk of brown-tail caterpillars imported from Europe after the 



