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 
Ratzebure’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 
“Pt. egregius”’ in the handwriting of Férster 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 larvee 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 larve 
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 
