REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. IIX 



BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



The "work of the Bureau of Entomology covers the whole field of 

 the economic aspect of the work of insects, whether they are injuri- 

 ous to agriculture or horticulture or to domestic animals or man^ 

 or whether they are beneficial in one way or another. Only a few 

 of the numerous investigations carried on under this bureau can be 

 mentioned here. 



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



The general conditions in that portion of the country originally 

 invaded by the gipsy moth, that is to say, eastern Massachusetts, 

 have been better during the past year than for many previous years. 

 This has been due in part to weather conditions, to the prevalence 

 of the wilt disease, to the gradual increase of parasites imported 

 from abroad, and to the cumulative effect of the excellent work done 

 along roadsides by the Bureau of Entomology, in certain forests 

 by the State of Massachusetts, and in the different towns under 

 municipal and State control. The conditions in New Hampshire, 

 however, are much worse than in Massachusetts. Many towns in the 

 southeastern part of the State are seriously infested, and the insect 

 occurs in 125 towns in all. In several of the northern towns the 

 pest has apparently been exterminated. In Maine there has been a 

 further spread, and a new colony has been found in Khode Island. 

 The brown-tail moth has established itself in the northeastern part 

 of Connecticut. 



The increase and spread of the imported parasites and natural 

 enemies of both the gipsy moth and the brown-tail, moth has been 

 gratifying, and several species have been brought in during the past 

 year in large numbers which the Bureau of Entomology had not 

 previously been able to secure. During the summer an imported 

 Japanese egg parasite, which had previously been thought to have 

 died out, was recovered in considerable numbers. An appreciable 

 effect upon the numbers of the gipsy moth as the result of parasitic 

 work is beginning to be noticed. 



New studies have been begun of the feeding habits of the newly 

 hatched caterpillars of the gipsy moth, and already it seems that it 

 will probably be possible to control the gipsy moth in forested areas 

 by a certain variation in forest management dependent upon the 

 feeding habits of the young caterpillars. This means that the for- 

 ests of New England, and later other portions of the country, are 

 not doomed, and that a good stand of timber can be maintained 

 even should the pest increase beyond the ultimate control of the 

 parasites, and this in itself is most unlikely. It appears, in fact, 

 that the number of species of forest trees upon which the young 



