APANTELES MELANOSCELUS GIPSY-MOTH PARASITE. 
17 
During the spring of 1912 the adults which issued from these cocoons 
were liberated near the laboratory. 
Early in 1912 Mr. Fiske again went to Italy, this time with several 
assistants. As one of the results of this trip, 22,000 cocoons of the 
second generation of A. melanoscelus were received during the 
summer of 1912. These cocoons were collected in the forest of San 
Pietro, near Caltagirone, Sicily, during the week beginning June 15. 
They were shipped to Naples in cold storage on June 22 and held 
there in cold storage until all had been isolated in gelatin capsules. 
Early in July they were sent to America in cold storage and hiber- 
nated at the laboratory. The adults which issued in the spring of 
1913 were liberated at Melrose. 
Table 1 shows the number of individuals of A. melanoscelus that 
have been liberated in New England. The colonizations of 1911, 
1912, and 1913 were adults which issued from cocoons received from 
Sicily ; the rest of the colonization material was obtained by rearing 
and breeding New England material. 
Table 1. — Number of A. melanoscelus liberated in New England, 1911-1920. 
Year. 
Number 
of adults 
liberated, 
Sicilian 
material. 
Cocoons 
colonized, 
New 
England 
material. 
Number dumber 
placed in , p1 ^ m 
Massa- £™ 
chusetts.l Hamp- 
Number 
of colonies 
placed in 
Rhode 
Island. 
Total 
number 
of 
colonies. 
1911 
23, 000 
203 
273 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1912 
1 
1913 
1 
1915 
1,500 
5,541 
3,500 
8,100 
930 
10, 100 
2 
11 
7 
9 
1 
3 
1916 
11 
1917 
7 
1918 1 
7 
16 
1919 
2 
1920 
9 
1 
21 
Total 
23, 476 
29, 671 
45 
17 
1 
63 
As will be seen from a study of the figures in Table 1, very few 
adults were liberated in 1912 from the 17,000 cocoons received in 
1911, and in 1913 from the 22,000 cocoons received in 1912. The 
poor issuance from these imported cocoons was due to several factors. 
Fifty to seventy-five per cent were killed by secondaries and a few 
were injured while being collected. These cocoons were kept in 
gelatin capsules from the middle of the summer until the adults 
issued the following spring. Subsequent experiments have shown 
that the mortality of hibernating larvae of Apanteles melanoscelus 
was not so high when the cocoons were isolated in small glass vials 
plugged with cotton batting as when they were kept in gelatin cap- 
sules. An examination of dead maggots of A. melanoscelus^ which 
had been isolated in gelatin capsules, showed that the maggots were 
