14 BULLETIN 1028, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
tunity presents itself, but shows very little interest in large hairy 
caterpillars or in larvae which are destitute of hair or only sparsely 
covered. 
PART II.— INTRODUCTION AND ESTABLISHMENT. 
EUROPEAN WORK. 1 - 
In January, 1911. Mr. W. F. Fiske, who was at that time in charge 
of the parasite work under the direction of Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief 
of Bureau, sailed for Italy to investigate the parasite situation. The 
main object at that time was to make a study of conditions there and 
to attempt to introduce on a large scale Chalet's ftavipes Panz., a 
pupal parasite of the gipsy moth. Headquarters were located at 
Naples and a vacant building was rented and fitted up for use as a 
laboratory near the School of Agriculture at Portici. 
Early in February. 1911, Mr. Fiske visited several places in Sicily 
to ascertain the field conditions and degrees of gipsy moth infesta- 
tion preliminary to obtaining the Chalcis material. While there he 
discovered that cocoons of a species of Apanteles were present in 
" countless thousands." This came very much as a surprise, and he 
determined to put most of his energies, even at the expense of pre- 
vious plans, into an effort to send this parasite to America in as large 
numbers as possible. 
The localities, a forest at San Pietro, Caltagirone, and the forests 
back of Barcellona, in Sicily, were situated where the gipsy-moth 
larvae and cocoons were sufficiently abundant to warrant the collec- 
tion of either in large numbers. Both places were some distance from 
a railroad, and the location which gave more promise was the less 
accessible of the two. As soon as the gipsy-moth larvae had hatched 
and were of sufficient size to have been parasitized, collections of 
larvae were begun. A foreman and crew were located at each place, 
and the collections of larvae were started. The first larval collection 
arrived from Caltagirone at Portici on May 14, and a few cocoons were 
present at that time. When the collections arrived at Portici they 
were placed in trays in the house which was rented for that purpose. 
About a dozen Italian girls took care of the trays — that is, fed the 
caterpillars, removed the parasite cocoons daily, and kept the trays 
clean. These girls were very adept at this work, being familiar with 
the care of silkworms and having assisted in handling alfalfa weevil 
parasite material for shipment to America. 
As soon as the cocoons were removed from the trays they were 
placed in cold storage to prevent the further development of the 
parasites. 
12 The part of this report pertaining to European work is based on the correspondence of 
Mr. W. F. Fiske while in Europe. 
