BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. 389 



Somer\dlle, N. J. The latter is carried on in cooperation with the 

 New Jersey Department of Agriculture, and the gipsy moth field 

 work in that State is administered from it. A laboratory and small 

 storehouse is located at Melrose Highlands, and a large storehouse 

 for housing field equipment and supplies and making repairs on 

 motor vehicles and tools used in field work has been maintained at 

 Franklin, N. H., but has recently been moved to Pittsfield, Mass. 



A small storehouse is also maintained at Bound Brook, N. J., 

 in cooperation with that State, where equipment is stored and 

 repairs made. 



Field and laboratory research work. — The laboratory at Mel- 

 rose Highlands, Mass., is headquarters for many lines of experi- 

 mental work which is conducted in many sections of the area in- 

 fested with the gipsy moth, and a temporary laboratory is main- 

 tained at Somerville, N. J., during the summer. 



Two entomologists from the Melrose Highlands laboratory have 

 been carrying on extensive work in Europe during the past year 

 and another has conducted investigations in Japan. The purpose 

 of this work is to study the conditions in the native home of the 

 gipsy moth and secure as much information as possible concerning 

 the natural agencies that assist in its control. Careful search has 

 been made for parasites and natural enemies of the gipsy moth, and 

 several shipments of promising species have been collected and 

 sent to this country for breeding and colonization. The importance 

 of this project can not be overestimated, as it is desired to utilize 

 every enemy of the gipsy moth that can be secured. 



During previous years species attacking the eggs, the larvae, and 

 the pupse of the gipsy moth and the brown-tail moth have been 

 secured and colonization of these species has been continued sys- 

 tematically throughout the year. 



Armstatus hifasciatus has been colonized in all the New England 

 States, 934,000 specimens having been liberated during the fiscal 

 year, and 1,800,000 specimens of Schedius kuvanae have also been 

 colonized. These two parasites attack the eggs of the gipsy moth. 

 Twenty-six thousand five hundred and eighty specimens of Apan- 

 teJes melanoscelus, a parasite that attacks the caterpillars of the 

 gipsy moth, were colonized at different points in New England 

 and in New Jersey, and 14,620 puparia of Blepha7'ipa scutellata 

 were liberated in Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, on Long Island, 

 and at other points in New York State. Field collections of gipsj'' 

 moth eggs taken from different sections of the infested territory 

 indicate that the parasitism by Anastatus hifasciatus averaged from 

 25 to 30 per cent and in some cases the parasitism by Schedius 

 kuvanae ranged as high as 48 per cent. The former parasite sur- 

 vived well in the northern part of the territory, but the latter is 

 not usually abundant in territory much farther north than Boston. 

 In some cases parasitism by Apanteles melanoscelus was rather 

 heavy. This was particularly true concerning the second brood of 

 this parasite. Collections of native larvae in the outside territory 

 indicated that Compsilura concinnata had spread as far west as 

 Danbury, Conn., and Milton and Mechanicsville, N. Y. The degree 

 of parasitism by this species in the inside territory was quite similiar 

 to that of the previous year. Collections showed that parasitism 



