B8 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



Mr. L, 0. Howard, the United States Entomologist, one of the best qualified to express 

 an opinion, says, in his recent address as President of the Association of Economic 

 Entomologists, as follows : " The work upon the Gypsy moth which has been done by the 

 State of Massachusetts since 1889, is one of the most remarkable pieces of work, judging 

 by results, which has yet been done in Economic Entomology. The operations have been 

 carried on by a Committee of the State Board of Agriculture, and the means have been 

 furnished by large appropriations by the State Legislature. Three hundred and twenty- 

 five thousand dollars have already been appropriated. A territory comprising something 

 over 100 square miles was infested by the insects, which occurred in such extraordinary 

 numbers as to destroy many trees, and almost to threaten the ultimate extinction of living 

 vegetation, not only within the infested territory, but in all localities to which it might 



spread The infested territory has been reduced by one-half, and within the 



districts in which the Gypsy moth at present exists, it is, practically speaking, a com- 

 paratively rare species. The future of the insect is, however, problematical. The con- 

 tinuance of sufficiently large appropriations from the State Legislature to enable the work 

 to be carried on, on its present scale, is doubtful, and yet those in charge believe that 

 still larger appropriations are necessary to bring about extermination. They are con- 

 fident, however, that with sufficient means, the insect can be absolutely exterminated 

 from the State of Massachusetts." 



It will be instructive to consider how it was that this pest became so numerous 

 before it was noticed, what measures were taken to control it, and lastly, what can be 

 learned from the efforts of the Commission. 



Prof. 0. H. Fernald, the eminent Entomologist of the State, and Prof. Forbush have 

 given, in the reports, most careful accounts of the introduction, habits and best methods of 

 fighting this pest. There seems to be little doubt that the species was introduced into 

 America in 1868, by a Mr. L. Trouvelot, then living near Glenwood, Medford, Mass., 

 where he was carrying on experiments with various caterpillars as producers of silk. 

 Having brought from Europe a cluster of the eggs of the Gypsy moth, he took them out 

 of the box and laid them on the sill of an open window, whence they were blown away 

 and lost. From this centre the moth scattered in every direction until, in 1891, it was 

 found to have spread, during the twenty-three years, over thirty townships. 



The chief causes of its increase are the proliticness of the females, the hardiness of 

 the species, and the fact that it feeds upon almost every plant wild or cultivated ; the 

 caterpillars also seem much less susceptible to injury from the ordinary poisonous insecti- 

 cides than most of our native caterpillars and being an introduced insect, of which all 

 the members of the present devastating hordes were derived from one nest of healthy 

 eggs, the species is not attended by the natural parasites which in Europe keep, as a rule, 

 its numbers within reasonable bounds. 



It seems strange Ihat so voracious a creature as the Gypsy moth caterpillar could 

 have increased so largely as is described in several letters from correspondents which are 

 published in the 1894 report, without having attracted sufficient notice for some one to 

 have sent specimens to the official Entomologist of the State sooner than 1889. Mrs. Bel- 

 cher, of Medford, Mass., writes : " Mr. Trouvelot, who is said to have introduced the Gypsy 

 moth into this country, was a next door neighbour of ours. The caterpillars troubled us 

 for six or eight years before they attained to their greatest destructiveness. This was in 

 1889. They were all over the outside of the house, as well as the trees. All the foliage 

 was eaten off our trees, the apples being attacked first, and the pears next. They ate 

 nearly every green thing in my yard, killing my rose bushes and doing much damage to 

 the vegetables. No one who did not see them at that time, can form any idea of what a 

 pest they were. We killed many with boiling hot water, and would then dig a hole and 

 bury them so as to prevent a stench. Mr. Belcher was poisoned by them. While he 

 was killing them upon the trees, they would get upon his neck and poison it. It was 

 impossible to stay long in the garden, for they would crawl all over one. We fought 

 them for two or three years before the Commission took hold. When they hatched out 

 in the spring, our fence would be one living mass, and while they were small it was 

 almost impossible to keep them off one's person." 



