45 



eutomology, botany, and plant pathology were 

 sought, but as this group of p^nts has not 

 received much attention from scientists in the 

 mother country, little information of value 

 relating to the inquiry was obtained. The 

 libraries of the British Museum and the Linnean 

 Society of London were made full use of by the 

 Commission. 



Sir David Prain was kind enough to furnish 

 the members of the Commission with credentials 

 to scientific workers and institutions in various 

 parts of the world, while Sir Thomas Robinson, 

 Agent-General for Queensland in London, pro- 

 cured from the British Poreisn Office the neces- 

 sary letters of introduction to diplomatic and 

 consular representatives of liis Majesty's G-ovem- 

 ment in foreign countries which it was proposed 

 to visit. 



Owing to the fact that one or more kinds of 

 Opuntia had been growing for a long period in 

 the Mediterranean area, especially in Spain and 

 more particularly in Italy, and had not spread 

 ia such a way as to constitute a pest, it was 

 thought that there might exist in those countries 

 some controlling factor which, if parasitic, could 

 be of use in the struggle against the prickly-pear 

 in Queensland. Hence it was deemed important 

 that, in pursuance of the work of the Commission, 

 inquiry should be instituted in this area, more 

 particularly in Italy. In order to save time the 

 members separated after traversing Spain, one 

 proceeding direct to Italy and Sicily, where there 

 was reasonable hope of obtaining scientific assis- 

 tance, while the other visited the Barbary States, 

 Malta, and Syria (via Egypt), returning to 

 London through Italy and Germany. 



Whilst in Madrid, a visit was paid to the 

 Minister for Agriculture, who, after consulting 

 some of the senior members of his department, 

 recommended that visits should be made to 

 Seville, Valencia, Jerez, and Murcia, as well as 

 Melilla in Morocco, letters of introduction to the 

 director of the local experiment stations and pro- 

 minent residents being courteously supplied by 

 him. It was found practicable to visit only 

 Seville, Jerez, Cadiz, and Granada, the last- 

 mentioned locality being known to have a con- 

 siderable development of naturalised prickly- 

 pear. 



In the search for natural enemies, not 

 only were the species found growing naturalised 

 examraed, but, owing to the possibility of the 

 introduction of diseases or insects along with the 

 host-plants from their native home, the chief 

 public and private gardens also received atten- 

 tion. Amongst the morle imtportant of those 

 visited were the collections in the Botanic Gar- 

 dens at Palermo (by courtesy of Professor 

 Borzi) ; Rome (Dr. Pirotta) ; Monaco ; Bortighera 

 (L. "Winter) ; La Mortola, Ventimiglia (Lady 

 Hanbury) ; Darmstadt (A. Purpus) ; Berlin 

 (Prof. Urban and Dr. Vaupel) ; Tangier (J. Gof- 

 fart) ; and Algiers. The study of the extensive 

 collection at La Mortola was particularly help- 

 ful, more especially as its Curator, Alwyn Berger, 

 is a well-known worker on the Cactacese. 



Certain countries such as Cyprus, Greece, 

 the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, and Corsica were 

 not visited, on account of the amount of time 

 required and the small chance of gaining addi- 

 tional information by doing so, and many of the 

 scientific meo with whom the Commission had 



hoped to come into touch were absent from their 

 institutions on summer vacation. 



The following is a sketch of the itinerary in 

 Italy and Sicily: — 



The Commissioner landed at Naples, and, 

 after consulting li.B.M. Consul, S. T. A. 

 Churchill, proceeded to Palermo, Sicily, where 

 he interviewed Sig. A. Romano, Prof. Lojacomo 

 Pojero, Prof. T. de Stefani Perez, and Dr. C. 

 Tropea, of the University; Prof. G. E. Mattel, 

 Royal Botanical Gardens. Sig. Romano men- 

 tioned the possibility of utilising the fibre of 

 priekly-pear in paper manufacture, and also 

 referred to a local disease, which was apparently 

 the "male dicancro"; while Prof, de Stefani 

 Perez gave information regarding certain enemies 

 of Opuntia. In company with Prof. Lojacomo 

 Pojero, prickly-pear plantations at La Pavorita 

 -were examined, and a special disease inquired 

 into there, and visits made to the Villas of 

 Messrs. T. L. and R. Whittaker, where Cactacese 

 were grown. 



A return was made to Naples and a visit 

 paid to the Royal Agricultural College, Portiei, 

 which was found to be in recess. Its Director, 

 Prof. Comes, was absent at the time, but Prof. 

 F. Silvestri, the well-known entomologist, and 

 Dr. G. Leonardi were met. They had not, how- 

 ever, given any special attention to the insects 

 of Opuntia, though Dr. Leonardi stated that 

 he had found Diaspis ecMnocacti in Italy on 

 0. dillenii. 



The journey to Reggio, in South Calabria, 

 and thence to Arcireale, in Sicily, was under- 

 taken, and at the latter place, Prof. L. Sayastano 

 was interviewed. In company with this investi- 

 gator, Catania was reached, where it was hoped 

 that a disease previously described by him as 

 "el marciume" would be seen, but the quest 

 was unsuccessful, owing no doubt to the malady 

 being at the time in a dormant condition. 



Rome was then visited, and it was found that 

 the British Ambassador had approached the 

 Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs with a view 

 to obtaining assistance for the Commission 

 during its inquiries in Italy. By courtesy of 

 the Department of Agriculture, help was afforded 

 by some of its officers. The Chief Inspector of 

 Viticulture, Dr. M. Carlucci, was interviewed, 

 and a visit was paid to the Vegetable Pathological 

 Station, but most of its officers were found to be 

 absent on vacation. 



The International Institute of Agriculture 

 was also visited, and its Director, Dr. A. Hermes, 

 Dr. J. M. Saulnier, and also Dr. V. de Tivoli 

 were met. Dr. A. Bruttini and Dr. E. Borghesini, 

 two of the members of the staff, had published 

 papers regarding paper manufacture, but, owing 

 to their absence at the time, their advice could 

 not be received. Dr. Saulnier supplied a list of 

 Italian investigators whose technical knowledge 

 he though would probably be of use to the Com- 

 mission, if there were an opportunity to inter- 

 view them. Dr. de Tivoli referred to the com- 

 mercial manufacture of alcohol from prickly- 

 pear in Catania, and also to Dr. Sotyia's investi- 

 gations in Sardinia regarding the use of the 

 plant as a cattle fodder. 



At the Gabinetto Botanico, the Director 

 (Dr. R. Pirotta) and Dr. C. Spegazzini were 

 met. The latter, a well-known botanist, who 

 was then on a visit to Italy from Argentina, gave 



