152 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Ja"-, 



number of the true parasites have been Hberated. Two species 

 of predatory ground beetles have also been imported, and they 

 seem to thrive here. So there is a prospect that in time these 

 natural enemies may hold the gypsy moth in check, or at least 

 assist in doing so. We must consider it as an experiment, 

 however, until the parasites demonstrate their usefulness in 

 this climate. But in Connecticut we are trying to exterminate 

 the colony, and we believe that there is a good chance of doing 

 it if it has not already spread beyond the northernmost points 

 where we have found it. 



FEDER.\L AID. 



Just before the adjournment of the last session, Congress 

 passed the Agricultural appropriation bill, which carried $80,- 

 000 for work against the gypsy and brown-tail moths, to be 

 expended by the Government Bureau of Entomology. The 

 Bureau has already started work in the other infested states, 

 and is planning to help us by scouting in other portions of 

 Connecticut. We expect them to begin within a few weeks. 



PRESENT CONDITION IN STONINGTON. 



Considerable scouting has been done and a great deal of 

 brush cut, so that the region will be in excellent shape for next 

 season's work. All infested trees have been marked. It is 

 difficult to find egg-masses or other traces of the gypsy moth 

 at Stonington. Still the work must be kept up for two or 

 three years before we can know whether the colony has been 

 exterminated or not, and we shall keep it up if funds are 

 available. 



DISCUSSION. 



Secretary Brown. I want to ask the attention of this 

 intelligent audience to a few figures. Dr. Britton states that 

 the average egg-mass contains from five to eight hundred eggi. 

 It has been estimated that there is an average of three hundred 

 female moths hatched out of each of these egg-masses, and that 

 that is the product of a single moth the first year. The second 

 year you have three hundred times three hundred, or ninety 

 thousand. The third year you have three hundred times 



