146 GYPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. [Jan. 



one decorator found on it some caterpillars. Here we have 

 a possibility of transportation of the moths. While these 

 caterpillars would have died before the bunting was used 

 again, had the date of the celebration been a month later 

 there would have been pupse on the bunting as well as cater- 

 pillars; and if later still, egg clusters. The duration of the 

 pupal stage is from eight to sixteen days, which might cover 

 the time elapsing between the use of the bunting in an in- 

 fested place and its use again in another. In the latter case, 

 if pupae arrived in the bunting uninjured, moths in due time 

 would have emerged, egg clusters would have been laid and 

 a new colony started. 



On July 11 a State inspector saw a teamster unloading 

 household goods in Andover. Learning that the furniture 

 wagon had come from Medford, he examined the coverings 

 of the load, and found concealed in the folds a dozen gypsy 

 moth caterpillars. The date marked the height of the larval 

 season, and these caterpillars were full grown. Here we 

 have a case of transportation of large gypsy moth caterpillars. 

 These full-grown caterpillars had crawled upon the wagon 

 while it was stationary or else upon the goods before they 

 were loaded. Here we have the complete evidence in a case 

 of distribution from beginning to end. 



The first great distribution of the gypsy moth practically 

 ceased soon after 1889 because the exterminative work on 

 the part of the State had so greatly diminished the numbers 

 of the caterpillars along streets and highways. But in 1900, 

 when the State work was abolished, the insect was allowed 

 to increase again without hindrance, and a second great dis- 

 tribution into new outside territory resulted. In the old 

 infested territory of 359 square miles the moths became 

 after two years more or less plentiful, and by the third year 

 their ravages were apparent in many places. Worse results 

 were to follow. The rapid and unchecked multiplication 

 of the moths not only caused their old colonies, many of 

 which had been entirely cleared by the work of the State 

 Board of Agriculture, to become reinfested, but also brought 

 about in some of them such a swarming of caterpillars as 

 had not been seen since 1889 in Medford. But now the 



