GYPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. [Jan. 



century Chorier records a legal injunction issued by the 

 attorney-general of the province of Dauphiny, whereby the 

 insects were ordered to " forsake and abandon the fields" 

 where they were feeding. Curtis published in 1782 a quaint 

 account of an outbreak of the brown-tail moth near London, 

 whereby "the inhabitants were thrown into the utmost con- 

 sternation. An appearance so extraordinary was calculated 

 to create terror ; it was naturally interpreted as a visitation 

 from heaven, ordained to deprive men and cattle of their 

 food and finally leave them a prey to famine" (Donovan). 

 The alarm of the public was so great and prevailed to such 

 an extent that prayers were offered in the churches to avert 

 the calamity. 



The history of the gypsy moth in Europe and. Asia is 

 equally full of striking incidents. Thus in 1720 Frisch 

 records the stripping "of a double row of lindens from 

 Neustadt to Berlin," while Schaeffer mentions the defoliation 

 of entire forests in 1752 in Altenburs:, Leitz, Naumburs and 



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elsewhere as a result of the unchecked ravages of the gypsy 

 moth caterpillars. " Some of the common people thought 

 the caterpillars grew out of the ground like grass ; others 

 thought they were created by the Evil One ; still others 

 assured the writer that they had seen thousands of caterpillars 

 brought by the wind ; and finally there were many who 

 thought these insects were sent as a punishment for their 

 sins." The stripping and serious damage to the cork oaks 

 of southern France are recorded in 1731 by Brown, and a 

 repetition of this injury occurred in 1818. Daudeville in 

 1828 described an outbreak extending over sixty miles near 

 Saint Quentin, where the caterpillars " completely devastated 

 the trees so that they were entirely bare." Later writers, like 

 Ratzeburg, Bazin, Taschenberg, Portchinsky and Koeppen, 

 have recorded notable outbreaks of the gypsy moth in Ger- 

 many and Russia. Instances like the foregoing, authenti- 

 cated by well-known entomologists, suffice to establish the 

 status of the pest in its native region. It should be stated, 

 however, that, in the careful study of the European literature 

 bearing on this subject made by the writer several years ago, 

 it was a significant fact that the history of any particular 



