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 td 
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 destroyed 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, Milan, 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 pomts 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 in 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 
