1907.] THE GYPSY MOTH IN CONNECTICUT. I43 



regions where the pest would be most liable. to occur. Several 

 times during the past five years it has been reported in Con- 

 necticut, but investigation proved that some other insect was 

 the cause of alarm in each case. 



On July 30th, 1905, the first real gypsy moth was taken at 

 Stonington, though I did not learn about it until six months 

 later. On February 27th, 1906, I received from Mr. Ernst 

 Frensch of Mystic, a letter closing with this sentence : — 

 " Probably it will be new to you that Porthetria dispar (the 

 gypsy moth) has reached the town of Stonington." 



I. wrote at once, making an appointment with Mr. Frensch, 

 and visited him at his home Tuesday, March 6th. He showed 

 me a female moth which he had found on an apple tree in the 

 yard of his brother, Karl Frensch, near the railroad, and not 

 far from the velvet mill in Stonington. This specimen was 

 taken July 30th, 1905, and is now in the Station collection. 

 The attention of Mr. Frensch was first attracted by two males 

 flying about in the tree, but as he did not have a net, he could 

 not catch them. On looking closer, he found the female rest- 

 ing on the bark, and he put her in his cyanide jar. Mr. 

 Frensch also showed me an egg-mass which he found on a 

 small twig in the brush-covered area close to the velvet mill. 

 He suspected these to be gypsy moth eggs, but to make sure, 

 he cut off the body of the female moth, and obtaining the eggs 

 therein, compared them with those on the twig, and found them 

 identical in size, shape and general appearance. ' He recog- 

 nized the gypsy moth because he had been familiar with it in 

 Germany. 



On March nth I again visited the place in company with 

 my assistant, Mr. B. H. Walden, and w^e looked about the trees 

 in the yard where the specimens were taken, but found no more 

 fresh egg-masses. I found an old egg-mass on a pear tree in 

 an adjoining yard. I had telephoned on my arrival to Col. 

 James F. Brown, of North Stonington, Secretary of the State 

 Board of Agriculture, and he joined us in the afternoon. We 

 examined the brush-covered area just north of the velvet mill 

 and found seven fresh egg-masses, which were immediately 

 placed in cyanide bottles to kill the eggs. 



After proving the gypsy moth to be present in Connecticut, 

 the next step was to find out how widely it had spread in the 

 state, or, in other words, the size of the infested area. Through 



