REPORT OF TEE ENTOMOLOGIST 217 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



viously. This is duo to the fact that the vicinity was not inspected last season and a 

 few winter webs were found there in 1909. The importance of making this thorough 

 and systematic inspection is indicated by the fact that some of the wnter webs, which 

 might be left were the inspection not thorough, have been found to contain an abnor- 

 mally barge number of caterpillars. One web was found to contain as many as 1,785 

 young caterpillars. Most of these winter webs are found on apple trees in small 

 orchards and especially in trees near to the wi»dows of houses. Observations in the 

 field indicate the extent to which the lights from the windows serve to attract the 

 night-flying female moths. 



There is no doubt that the chief manner in which the Brown-tail Moth has been in- 

 troduced into Nova Scotia has been by means of small vessels trading between Boston 

 and other New England ports, where the insect is so abundant, and the small ports of 

 Weymouth, Bear River and Bridgetown. On investigation I found at these points all the 

 conditions necessary for a successful landing in the port of the caterpillars and moths. 

 Wild apple and thorn, on both of which the caterpillars feed, occur in close proximity to 

 the wharves where the vessels are unloaded and where any goods upon which caterpillars 

 had been carried across the Bay of Fundy, would lie. The absence of any serious 

 outbreak at Yarmouth is explained probably by the entire absence of these trees near 

 the wharves. But where trees are near the wharves as is the case at Weymouth, Bear 

 River and Bridgetown, there we have discovered heavy infestations of the caterpillars. 

 In other cases the moths may be transported across from the New England States, either 

 on vessels or by the wind. That the latter method of dispersal is not improbable is 

 shown by the fact that male specimens of the Brown-tail Moth have been captured 

 on the coast and inland near lights in Yarmouth County. In one case a nest was 

 found on a tree in front of the window of a farm house some distance from the coast. 

 During the flying period the light from the windows, illuminated this tree and no 

 doubt a female moth was attracted on this account and deposited her eggs. Other 

 instances were found of the influence of lights attracting the female moths in flight to 

 trees situated near to windows habitually illuminated during the flying period. This 

 flying period commences about the second week of July. 



INSPECTION IN NEW BRUNSWICK. 



Owing to the fact that the Brown-tail Moth had extended along the coast of tic 

 State of Maine as far as the .international boundary, the St. Croix River, and had been 

 recorded at Princeton, Maine, it was considered necessary to have the southeastern 

 region of the province of New Brunswick carefully examined for signs of the insect's 

 invasion. Mr. W. Mcintosh in previous years has taken moths at lights in St. John, 

 N.B., but no traces of the insect having established itself in the province had 1 een 

 discovered by the investigations which Mr. Mcintosh had made on behalf of the pro- 

 vincial government. Accordingly, two of our field officers, Messrs. G. E. Sanders, 

 and R. C. Treherne, were sent to that region at the beginning of June and a careful 

 survey was made, lasting to the end of October, of the south-eastern region of tbe prov- 

 ince which was most likely to be infested. They also visited Grand Manan and other 

 islands and during the flying season light traps were employed but with little succ< — . 

 Mr. Wm. Mcintosh reported the taking of moths at light from July 6 to lGth and males 

 were received from the light house on Grand Manan on August 2. The first evidence 

 of the moth breeding in New Brunswick was a single egg mass sent to the Division 

 on August 15, 1910, by Mr. W. S. Poole, St. Stephen, N.B., who found it on an apple 

 tree about two miles inland from the frontier. From this egg mass we reared 

 eight specimens of the small hymenopterous egg parasite Pentarthrum miniitvm 

 Riley (Syn. Trichogramma pretiosa) which emerged on August 24 and were kindly 

 identified for us by Mr. A. A. Girault. The hostile reception which the Brown-tail 

 Moth thereby appeared to be receiving was of interest. Beyond this discovery no fur- 



