IMPORTATION AND HANDLING OF PARASITE MATERIAL. 155 
JAPANESE IMPORTATIONS. 
It has already been told how Prof. Kincaid spent the summer of 
1908 in Japan in the interests of the parasite work. While there, in 
cooperation with the Japanese entomologists, he evolved a wholly 
new method for the transportation of the immature caterpillars of 
the gipsy moth, which would have been applicable in the case of 
European importations if it had seemed to be worth while to con- 
tinue these importations in 1909. Large oblong wooden boxes hay- 
ing a capacity of about 14 cubic feet were used. Like all the boxes 
received from Japan, they were most excellently constructed of a 
sort of wood which was less affected by dampness than most. 
The success of the work was very largely dependent upon both the 
character of the wood and the excellence of construction. It is cer- 
tain that ordinary packing boxes would have warped to such an 
extent as to permit the escape of the small caterpillars. 
These boxes (see Pl. V, fig. 2) were first lined with several thick- 
nesses of absorbent paper, which was then thoroughly dampened. 
Small branches of a species of Alnus were attached to the sides, so 
that the interior was a mass of green foliage; the caterpillars to the 
number of several hundred were introduced, the cover tightly attached, 
and the whole sent in cold storage from Yokohama to Boston with 
scarcely an interruption en route. Sometimes the ends of the 
branches were thrust into a piece of succulent root (radish or potato), 
but this proved unnecessary, and rather a detriment than otherwise. 
The condition of these boxes on receipt was usually good, and in 
some instances surprising. In some of the best of them scarcely a 
leaf was withered or even discolored, and in one in particular it 
seemed almost as though the branches had been freshly collected, 
with the early morning dew still clinging to the leaves. This illusion 
was almost instantly destroyed, for within an hour practically every 
leaf had dropped from the stem and was already beginning to blacken, 
as though struck by a sudden blight. 
There was a good deal of difference in the condition of the cater- 
pillars. Those which had been shipped in the second and third stages 
almost invariably anrived in the best condition. There was scarcely 
any mortality en route, and physically they were all in perfect health 
and ready to feed voraciously. Larger caterpillars did not survive 
their journey so well, and among those that had reached the fifth 
stage there was always a heavy mortality, and the survivors were 
never very healthy and would mostly die without feeding. It would 
appear that they were so heavy as to be thrown to the bottom of the 
box while dormant through cold, and thus become injured. 
While technically a success, these attempts were practically fail- 
ures. No parasites were secured in anything more than the most 
