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 
Oberthir. 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- 
