10 THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH. 



of the moth were merely sporadic and localized. Within 

 the badly infested area there were two establishments which, 

 from an entomological stand-point, were of a highly suspi- 

 cious character, viz., an old abandoned nursery and a large 

 greenhouse and florist's plant. 



Realizing how easily the insects in their closely spun webs 

 might have been imported on nursery stock, the old nursery 

 was carefully examined and the history of importations there 

 made was investigated. It appeared that the nurserj' had 

 not been in active operation since about 1895, and many of 

 the trees left standing in the old nursery rows had attained 

 to a large size. Among the latter there were several large 

 specimens of Pt/rnis, a genus particularly favored by the 

 caterpillar. Had the insect been introduced here, the nurs- 

 er}^, with its surrounding yards, containing numerous fruit 

 trees of considerable age, would have oftered ideal con- 

 ditions for the nmltiplication of the moth, and here we 

 would have found ample evidence of long-continued infesta- 

 tion. On the contrary, however, careful examination of the 

 nursery and the surrounding estates showed less than a dozen 

 trees infested by the caterpillars. 



Owing to the unpopularity of the moth, questions tending 

 to connect any one with its importation were necessarily 

 made in a guarded manner. The second suspicious place, 

 the florist's establishment, perhaps one-fourth of a mile 

 from the nursery, was visited, and the proprietors were 

 questioned indirectl}^ with reference to their importations 

 of foreign perennials or shrubs. It was found that previous 

 to about 1890 these parties had made a feature of importing 

 roses from Holland and France, ijrowinii: them for a year or 

 two in large plots in the rear of the greenhouses, and then 

 marketing them. Innned lately in the rear of these })lots 

 were two blocks of large, full-grown pear trees, and these 

 trees were completely defoliated by the caterpillars, and had 

 a history of repeated delbliations extending backward for 

 tliree or four years. Now, it is well known that the brown- 

 tail moth occurs both in Holland and France ; that in these 

 countries it is not an uncommon ])est of roses, — in fact, it 

 is frequently mentioned in literature as being one of the 



