146 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



in the daytime, moving in a peculiar zigzag course. The cater- 

 pillars when young spin down on silken threads, and may drop 

 upon a passing vehicle, person or domestic animal and be car- 

 ried perhaps for some distance. Automobiles are perhaps the 

 worst offenders in this respect because they sometimes move 

 rapidly and go long distances. 



As the caterpillars become larger they are apt to leave their 

 trees and crawl about in search of food. In doing so, they 

 often crawl upon persons or objects by which they may be 

 carried upon trains, electric cars, automobiles, or in wagons, 

 from which the caterpillars may not escape until they have 

 reached another town or perhaps another state. When ready 

 to pupate, they are liable to crawl upon packing boxes or other 

 freight, or into freight cars ; or egg-masses may be laid upon 

 these objects and later be transported unwittingly to a new 

 locality, and thus form a new colony. Moreover, in the 

 worst infested section of Massachusetts, in caterpillar time it 

 is almost impossible to walk about in the woodlands or even 

 through the fields of grass without having caterpillars crawl 

 upon the clothes. If these are not brushed off, one carries 

 them into the wagon or automobile, or onto the trolley car, and 

 thus aids in their distribution. 



Undoubtedly the gypsy moth is spread chiefly through in- 

 dustrial traffic, yet historical associations have much to do 

 with its distribution. For instance. Mount Auburn Cemetery, 

 which is situated partly in Watertown and partly in Cambridge, 

 is often thronged with visitors. This cemetery was cleared 

 of caterpillars in 1893, and in 1895 the trees near the graves 

 of Longfellow and Lowell were attacked by such quantities of 

 caterpillars that much effort was necessary in order to save 

 them. In like manner the region about Bunker Hill Monu- 

 ment is usually well infested.* 



The infested area at Stonington is in some respects situated 

 favorably for the work of extermination. The village is built 

 on a point of land, and the moth infestation being just north 

 of the village, is flanked on the east by the Wequetequock 

 Cove and on the west by an arm of the sea. A line connect- 

 ing these two bodies of water at the northermost extremity 

 of the latter cuts the mainland some distance north of or beyond 



• Forbush & Femald, The Gj'psy Moth, p. io6, i8q6. 



