1906.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT No. 73. 107 



farm of that value would have to pay a tax of $0.294, which 

 might be regarded as a premium paid to the State to insure him 

 against the ravages of the gypsy moth. This is far less than one 

 would have to pay for clearing the moths from a single apple tree. 

 If this same tax should be continued for forty years, as long as a 

 man would be likely to have charge of a farm, his premiums for 

 that time would amount in all to $11.76, --a much smaller sum 

 than would be required to clear this pest from a small orchard in a 

 single year. 



It is therefore by far the wisest policy for all land owners to 

 insist that the necessary appropriations be made for suppressing 

 the gypsy moth, and that the work be carried on in the most 

 approved and economical manner, but at the same time in such a 

 way as to insure success. 



The brown-tail and gypsy moths differ so much in their habits 

 that they should be considered separately. The female brown-tail 

 moth flies very freely, while the other does not fly at all ; and this 

 enables the former to become distributed far more widely in the 

 same length of time than the latter. The young caterpillars of 

 the brown-tail moth are gregarious, and hibernate in winter tents 

 on the twigs of trees, where they can be easily seen and removed 

 at any time during the winter. They are therefore more easily 

 destroyed than the gypsy moth, and, as they feed on a much 

 smaller number of kinds of trees and shrubs, they have never 

 caused so much damage as the gypsy moth. 



The caterpillars of the brown-tail moth during the latter part of 

 their existence before pupating are furnished with exceedingly 

 minute nettling spines in innumerable numbers which are freely 

 scattered, and when they come in contact with the human skin 

 they cause an intolerable itching and a most unpleasant sensa- 

 tion such as no one can appreciate until he has had the experi- 

 ence. This feature of the brown-tail moth brings it very forcibly 

 to the attention of people whose premises are infested, and gives 

 this insect a greater notoriety than has been gained by the gypsy 

 moth. 



Much has been said and written about the importation of para- 

 sites, and great hopes have been entertained that parasites might 

 be found which would destroy both the gypsy and brown-tail 

 moths. 



While the work of extermination was going on during the 

 nineties, I was not in favor of importing parasites, for the reason 

 that in working for extermination the caterpillars containing para- 

 sites might be killed, and in this way many and perhaps all of the 



