NARRATIVE OF PROGRESS OF WORK. 71 



In planning the work for the season of 1908, several new features 

 were introduced. The parasites constantly sent over by agents 

 belong to three main groups, namely, those of the order Hymenop- 

 tera, including the ichneumon flies, the chalcis flies, and others; 

 those of the Diptera, including the tachina flies, and those of the 

 order Coleoptera, including the predaceous ground beetles. The 

 amount of material received had been so great, and the character of 

 the different life histories of the insects involved had been so diverse, 

 that no one expert was able to do the fullest justice to the situation. 

 Therefore, while the junior author was left in general charge of the 

 whole mass of importations and retained his expert supervision of 

 the work on the biology of the parasitic Hymenoptera, Mr. C. H. T. 

 Townsend, of the Bureau of Entomology, was assigned to the work 

 on the biology of the dipterous parasites, and Mr. A. F. Burgess, also 

 of the Bureau of Entomology, was assigned to the expert charge of 

 the ground beetles. 



Owing to the fact that the condition of European sendings by mail 

 and express during the summer of 1907 had been by no means uni- 

 formly good — those from eastern Europe, subjected to long railway 

 journeys in addition to the sea voyage, frequently arriving in bad 

 condition — the second innovation was made by establishing at 

 Rennes, France, a general laboratory depot in addition to the field 

 cages and rearing station mentioned in a previous paragraph. The 

 expert assistant designated by Prof. Houlbert, of the University of 

 Rennes, was Mr. A. Vuillet, who was placed in specific charge of the 

 general laboratory depot under the general supervision of Mr. Rene 

 Oberthux. Mr. Vuillet placed himself in relations with the steamship 

 company agents at Cherbourg and Havre and was kept informed as 

 to the dates of the sailings of steamers. Nearly all of the European 

 sendings were shipped to Rennes, examined, repacked, and carried 

 personally by Mr. Vuillet to Cherbourg or Havre on the known days 

 of sailing of certain steamers and then placed in the hands of chief 

 stewards of the vessels and carried in the cold rooms to New York, 

 whence they were sent to Boston. Early in the course of the work 

 the honorable the Secretary of the Treasury, upon request of the 

 honorable the Secretary of Agriculture, had issued orders to the col- 

 lector of the port of New York to admit all such packages without 

 examination and to hasten their departure for Boston through the 

 United States dispatch agent. The steamship officials showed them- 

 selves uniformly courteous, and as a result of this new arrangement 

 the average condition of the material received proved to be much 

 better. 



With the installation of the new laboratory at Melrose Highlands, 

 and with the added space afforded by the new structures in the gar- 



