1908.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT- -No. 73. 213 



some of the rarer imported forms should prove far more effective 

 parasites than those commonly abundant in Europe. 



Fourthly, we would reiterate the importance of making a serious 

 attempt to obtain parasites from Japan, as noted above. 



In conclusion, we wish to call attention, in an incidental way at least, 

 to the fact that considerable of value in control work could undoubtedly 

 be gained by a careful and practical study of repressive forestry meas- 

 ures now in vogue in European countries. It is true that a wide dis- 

 crepancy exists between the conditions obtaining in America and those 

 in Europe; nevertheless, certain general principles would undoubtedly 

 apply to both countries. We would include in this recommendation not 

 only the advisability of studying the practical aspects of European 

 control work against these two species in particular, but would also 

 suggest that a careful ecological study of the gypsy and brown-tail 

 moths in Europe, with special reference to the relative value of the 

 various natural checks, would prove of great value in determining 

 future lines of work. 



REPORT OF PROF. H. A. MORGAN, 



DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OP TENNESSEE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



KNOXVILLE, TENN., Aug. 1, 1907. 



Mr. A. H. KIRKLAND, Superintendent for the Suppressing of the Gypsy and 

 Brown-tail Moths, 6 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. 



SIR : - - In response to your invitation, dated May 29, 1907, to inspect 

 the work of importing parasites of the gypsy and brown-tail moths, I 

 arrived in Boston July 23. At this time the conditions were most 

 favorable for an examination and inspection of the habits and ravages 

 of the gypsy and brown-tail moths, and of the methods in operation by 

 your office and the Bureau of Entomology, United States Department 

 of Agriculture, for the restriction and suppression of these pests. 



In submitting this statement I wish to acknowledge the facilities ten- 

 dered by you and your assistants for a careful examination of much 

 of the territory involved in the spread of the gypsy and brown-tail 

 moths, of the various degrees of infestation and ravage, and of the 

 opportunity for the comparison of results obtained where remedial 

 measures were actively enforced, and where conditions were such as to 

 warrant a postponement of remedial action until later, or for the 

 colonization of predaceous and parasitic insects. This general view 

 of the situation is essential to a clue appreciation of the magnitude of 

 the problem you have in hand, and the knowledge and technique re- 

 quired for its proper and economical solution. 



There was a time in the history of the campaign against these moths 

 that entomological opinion might have favored an attempt at extermi- 

 nation ; but as this opportunity may be regarded as past, control by the 

 best-known methods, based upon an exhaustive study of the life histories 

 and habits of these moths and their parasites, is the most economical 



