1908.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT No. 73. 127 



the caterpillars in the summer of 1907 was scarcely notice- 

 able. In many of the towns, particularly Brookline, Newton, 

 Waltham, Lincoln, Lexington, Woburn, Heading, Beverly and 

 Manchester, the gypsy moth has increased in numbers in the 

 woodlands, and here the principal efforts as far as work in 

 the forests is concerned must be made the present year. In the 

 towns more remote from the central infested district the known 

 colonies are well in hand, and local scouting operations in fall, 

 winter and spring should detect incipient moth colonies in sea- 

 son for their effective treatment. An unfortunate feature of 

 the work in these outer towns is the fact that such towns are 

 practically non-revenue-yielding under the terms of the act ; in 

 other words, the amount of the town's financial liability is 

 often so small as to be a negligible quantity, while the cost of 

 the necessary field work, which must be continued along exter- 

 minative lines, is relatively large. Against this condition of 

 affairs should be set the fact that the cost of controlling the 

 work in a large part of the badly infested central district has 

 already been notably reduced, and that a further reduction in 

 outlay will here be made during 1908. The funds thus re- 

 leased will be available for work in the outer sections. 



Those whose duty it is to keep closely in touch with the 

 details of the field work from day to day are not in the best 

 position to judge of the amount of progress made in the battle 

 against the moths. We see so much work remaining to be done 

 and the needs and responsibilities of the present moment press 

 so heavily that it is with difficulty we can make a fair com- 

 parison between the conditions now prevailing and those which 

 obtained in 1905. Yet the results of such a comparison are 

 most striking. This work against the* moths, viewed either from 

 the standpoint of financial outlay or from its relation to the 

 country at large, is without doubt the most remarkable and 

 important entomological undertaking in the entire world. Never 

 before has such a thoroughgoing, systematic effort been made 

 to stamp out an imported insect pest, and never before has so 

 much been expended in the way of money and labor to the ac- 

 complishment of the desired end. Because of this fact, visits 

 to the field of action in eastern Massachusetts have been fre- 



