12 THE BROWX-TAIL MOTH. 



The Brown-tail Moth in Europe. 



The original home of the brown-tail moth is in Em'ope, 

 where it oecm\s over the entire country exccjjt in the extreme 

 nortli. Altmii (juotes Speyer to the ett'ect that it is "dis- 

 tributed over the whole of central and southei'n EiU'ope, 

 extends into Algiers on the south and to the Himalavas on 

 the east. The polar limit is in Sweden at 57°, the equato- 

 rial in the Himalaj'as at 34°." Kirby states that it is " com- 

 mon in central and southern Em'ope, north Africa and western 

 Asia, but is a local insect in Eni>land.'* The moth has 

 also been doul)tfully reported from Japan. This wide dis- 

 tribution is significant, as indicating the ultimate probable 

 range of the insect in the United States. 



The literature of the brown-tail moth is as old as the lit- 

 eratiu-e of economic entomology. "When man began to record 

 his troubles with the pests of crops, this insect was among 

 the first to receive attention. The remarkable outbreaks of 

 the caterpillars in certain years created astonishment as well 

 as alarm. Being clearl}^ out of the established order of 

 things, they were regarded as a punishment for human short- 

 comings ; and as Divine interposition seemed to offer the 

 only remedv, it . was freely invoked to stay the plague. 

 Thus in 1543, dm'ing an outbreak of thb brown-tail moth, 

 a member of the city council at (irenoble introduced a re- 

 solve be2:2:ing the local church official "to excommunicate 

 these pests and (^ensure them, in order to check the damage 

 they were doing daily." To the credit of the council, let it 

 be added, the resolve was })romptly enacted. In the same 

 century, Chorier, a historian of Dauphinv, relates that these 

 caterpillars were so abundant that the attorney-general of the 

 province found it necessary to issue an injunction against 

 them, and ordercsd them to evacuate the fields where they 

 were feeding. Such records as these testify strongly to the 

 early damage by the moth, and the helplessness of the farm- 

 ers of that day in the face of the cateri)illar outbreaks. 



Goedart, writing in 1()35, describes the "singular natiu*e " 

 and " remarkable knowledge and foresight" of the caterpil- 

 lars in preparing their winter shelters. ]Madam Mcrian de- 



