DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY 503 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



the beginning of the present fiscal year, showed that seven counties, namely, Charlotte, 

 Carleton, York, Sunbury, Queen3, Kings and St. John, were included in the infested 

 area. The area of infestation had increased from about 400 square miles, in 1910, 

 to approximately 6,400 square miles in 1911. The light character of the infestation 

 may be gathered from the fact that over this area only 2,452 winter webs of the 

 Brown-tail Moth were found. The distribution of the webs were as follows: — 



Webs. 



Charlotte county 1,812 



Carleton county. 16 



York county ■ 300 



Sunbury county, .i 256 



Queens county 58 



Kings county. . . .• 8 



St. John county 2 



Total.. 2,452 



The following list indicates the distribution of the winter webs on the food 

 plants in New Brunswick during the season 1911: — 



Apple 2,196 Maple 11 



Bilberry 80 O.ik 2 



Thorn 73 Beech 2 



Choke cherry 45 Pear 1 



Elm 15 Willow 1 



Plum .. .. 13 Poplar.. 1 



Pennsylvania cherrv 12 



Total 2,152 



The discovery of winter webs on low-growing vegetation, such as bilberry, thorn 

 and choke cherry, increases the difficulties of our control work in New Brunswick, 

 where the topographical and other conditions differ very materially from those occur- 

 ring in Nova Scotia. In New Brunswick it was found that birds had directly and 

 indirectly contributed to the destruction of hibernating larva?, directly by the actual 

 destruction of the larvae and indirectly by opening the winter webs and thereby sub- 

 jecting the young larvae to the weather conditions from which they are usually more 

 protected. The distribution of the agricultural lands in the southern section of New 

 Brunswick affects the distribution of the moth. The infestations occur on the culti- 

 vated high lands, or ridges, the intervening valleys being wooded. This is shown by 

 the nature of the chief food plants, apple on the farms, and bilberry, thorn and choke 

 cherry on the cultivated portions of high lands. A count which Mr. Tothill made of 

 the larvae contained in 121 winter webs gave an average of 175-8 larvse per web. This 

 is less than the average. 



Mr. G. E. Sanders had charge of the scouting work in Nova Scotia, and the 

 infested region was covered by three parties of men with the co-operation of the 

 provincial Department of Agriculture, as was also the case in New Brunswick. It 

 was found that the area of infestation has spread eastward, a single nest being found 

 at Brooklyn, Kings county. Altogether, 7,703 webs were collected, as compared with 

 4,490 collected in the season 1910-11. Considerable improvement had resulted in cer- 

 tain sections from the thorough scouting work which had been done in the previous 

 season, 1910-11. In Weymouth, 562 webs were collected, as compared with 1,511 in 

 the previous season. On the other hand, one or two localities showed an increase. In 

 Bridgetown, 1,362 webs were collected; in 1910-11, 601 webs had been found. It 

 should be pointed out, however, that the number of webs collected may not accurately 

 indicate the infestation, as in many cases the webs are collected and destroyed by the 

 owners of the properties. An increase in the number in any locality might be due 

 to the neglect of the owners of the infected trees to remove the nests. 



