150 GYPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. [Jan. 



places as well, throughout the length and breadth of Plym- 

 outh County and on Cape Cod. 



In a consideration of the automobile as a factor of distri- 

 bution, it should be borne in mind that the short-distance 

 runs, as "well as the long, extend farther out from a centre 

 of population than driving has ever done, for the reason 

 that the machine has wonderfully extended the radius of 

 travel for pleasure, absolutely as well as relatively, over 

 that of the past. The inner towns of the new moth terri- 

 tory since 1900 are more thoroughly infested than those 

 farther out, largely as a result of the quite regular and con- 

 stant short-distance automobiling from the heart of the old 

 badly infested moth district, which is constantly using the 

 same highways and reaching the same objective points. 



The considerable infestations at Newburyport, Rockport 

 and Plymouth, all remote from the badly infested central 

 district, which might seem at first to furnish an exception to 

 this rule, in reality prove it. These places are objective 

 points for mueh automobiling, and so in the natural course 

 of events have become dangerously infested with the gypsy 

 moth. 



It is most unfortunate that the height of the automobiling 

 season coincides with the period of greatest abundance of 

 gypsy moth caterpillars. It has seemed desirable to collect 

 data on the number of automobiles and other vehicles 

 passing certain points in the infested district during a single 

 day in the hours usually devoted to pleasure riding. The 

 figures given below were obtained in the fall months, and 

 would have been very much larger had a similar count 

 been made during the months of May and June. 



