110 GYPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. [Jan. 



nurseries in eastern Massachusetts have now become in- 

 fested. While the system of nursery inspection has been 

 carried on efficiently under the direction of Dr. H. T. Fer- 

 nald, and while nurserymen, as a rule, show a disposition to 

 suppress the moth on their property, at the same time there 

 is great danger that a few nests may be overlooked in ship- 

 ping out nursery stock, and that in this way the insect may 

 become distributed over a wide area. It would not be a 

 matter for surprise if the brown-tail moth is found at any 

 point in the eastern United States. 



As affording an idea of the abundance of the brown-tail 

 moth, even in limited areas, where conditions favor the in- 

 crease of the insect, the figures given by William Allen, 

 assistant superintendent, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cam- 

 brido-e, are of interest. During the winter of 1904-05 Mr. 



O ~ <3 



Allen removed from the trees in the cemetery 700 bushels 

 of brown-tail moth webs, averaging 330 webs to the bushel, 

 or a total of 231,000 webs. Estimating these at the aver- 

 age figure of 250 caterpillars per web, we have 57,750,000 

 caterpillars destroyed by this operation. 



WORK BY OTHER STATE BOARDS. 



A considerable amount of land in the infested district is 

 under the control of the Metropolitan Park Commission and 

 the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board, while along the 

 State highwavs the roadside trees are now under the care of 



O ^ 



the Massachusetts Highway Commission. All these boards 

 have endeavored to co-operate with the State superintendent 

 and with the local authorities in the work of suppressing the 

 moths, and a brief summary of their operations to date is 

 given in the following correspondence : 



METROPOLITAN PARK COMMISSION, 

 BOSTON, Jan. 12, 1906. 



Prof. A. H. KIRKLAND, Superintendent for the Suppression of the Gypsy 

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



DEAR SIR: The Metropolitan Park Commission presents here- 

 with a summary of the work done against the gypsy and brown- 

 tail moths during the past year in the reservations and parkways 

 under its care and control, and of the work contemplated during 



