flEPOET OF THE SECRETARY. 113 



BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



The work of the Bureau of Entomology as a whole is divided into 

 sections or main projects, which include work on the gipsy moth and 

 the brown-tail moth, importations of useful insects, exportations of use- 

 ful insects, investigations of insects damaging southern field crops, of 

 insects damaging forests, of those injuring deciduous fruit trees, of 

 those which prey upon cereal crops and forage plants, of those which 

 injure vegetable crops, of those affecting citrus fruits, and of those 

 which destroy stored foods, as well as investigations of insects in 

 their direct relation to the health of man and domestic animals, and 

 the study of bee culture in a broad way. Such inspection as can be 

 done under existing laws comprises another aspect of the Bureau's 

 efforts. Only a few of these projects will be touched upon here. 



WORK ON THE GIPSY MOTH AND THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH. 



The largest problem, from the point of view of financial expenditure, 

 ■which comes under the work of this Bureau, is the effort to restrict 

 the spread of these two insects, which have been doing an enormous 

 amount of damage to the trees of certain New England States and 

 which threaten to extend their range to other portions of the country. 

 The States involved are Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, 

 Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Realizing from the start the 

 practical impossibility of establishing a quarantine fine around the 

 limits of distribution and working back toward a common center, 

 it was decided that, since the gipsy moth spreads principally in the 

 caterpillar stage (the female moth being unable to fly), and largely 

 by dropping from roadside trees upon passing individuals and vehicles, 

 the best results could be accomplished in an effort to prevent this 

 sort of spread by cleaning up the roadsides in the most thickly 

 infested and most traveled sections. It was decided that the brown- 

 tail moth, having extended powers of flight, could not be controlled 

 by any such method, but that, owing to the prevailing direction of 

 the winds at the season of flight, its spread to the west and south 

 would always be comparatively slow. Therefore the efl'orts with 

 this species have been to urge upon the States concerned the enforce- 

 ment of state laws already in existence and to take part in the general 

 campaign of the education of people in regard to the habits of the 

 insect, and to encourage in every way the destruction of the winter 

 nests, since, during the season when the leaves are off the trees, 

 these nests are readily observable and can be picked off and destroyed. 

 As the result of the work carried on down to the present time, the 

 living conditions in the infested area have been vastly improved 

 and the spread of the gipsy moth has been greatly retarded. Street 

 and roadside trees have, as a rule, retained their full foliage, and no 

 great loss of verdure is now noticeable except in forested areas. 

 73477°— AG R 1010 8 



