THE INFESTED REGION. 33 



Here the caterpillars had already stripped the trees on about 

 a half acre of ground in the edge of a strip of woodland, 

 and many were travelling north and east across a grass- 

 grown field, eating the grass as they went. The owner, 

 seeing there were two or three caterpillars on each stalk 

 of grass, immediately cut it and saved part of the crop. 

 The owner of the woodland set men at work {ratherin^ 



o o 



the caterpillars and pupae in baskets, and burning them in 



fires built for that purpose. Your agents were soon on 

 the ground, and began destroying the caterpillars with the 

 cyclone burner. They were swept and shaken from the 

 trees and burned, until few could be found in the centre 

 of the colony. In the meantime, those in the field had left 

 the grass as soon as it began to dry in the sun, and, crossing 

 the field, swarmed into the trees and undergrowth on a 

 wooded hillside. Here their progress was arrested by the 

 cyclone burner. 



An inspection of the country in the vicinity was begun 

 in August. As the colony was near the southern boundary 

 of Lincoln, the northern part of Weston, which adjoins 

 Lincoln, was inspected, but no indications of the moth 

 were found there. In a later inspection of the territory 

 immediately about the colony a few egg-clusters were found 

 just over the Lincoln line in Weston. Continued inspec- 

 tion has enlarged the known area of the colony, and it is 

 now known that the moths are scattered half a mile to 

 the north and east from the centre. This inspection was 

 brought to a close by the cessation of field work in Decem- 

 ber, and should be finished as soon in 1898 as the weather 

 conditions will permit. The vast number of caterpillars 

 found here, their distribution over so large a territory, and 

 other signs of long occupation, all indicate that the colony 

 has been established for several years. The owner of the 

 infested property has lived in Cambridge during the winters, 

 and has driven back and forth in the summers when the 

 gypsy moth was most numerous in that city. In all prob- 

 ability this colony was established at that time, or before the 

 work of exterminating the gypsy moth was begun. The 

 situation of the colony at some distance from the main road 

 explains why it was not found in the roadside inspection of 

 Lincoln made some years ago. Had it been possible earlier 



