APPLE INSECTS — BUDS AND FOLIAGE 



129 



and often very severe, vast areas of forests are sometimes 

 devastated and many park and orchard trees either killed or 

 seriously injured. It was introduced into Massachusetts in 

 1869 at Medford near Boston by a French naturalist who was 

 conducting experi- 

 ments with silk- 

 worms. Some of the 

 insects accidentally 

 escaped and became 

 established in the 

 immediate vicinity 

 but did not attract 

 particular attention 

 for about twenty 

 years. In 1889, 

 however, the cater- 

 pillars appeared in 

 enormous numbers, 

 defoliated many 

 forest, shade and 

 orchard trees, and 

 excited great alarm 

 among the residents 

 of the region. At 

 first the state at- 

 tempted to exter- 

 minate the pest, ex- 

 pending large sums 



of money for that purpose, but in 1900 abandoned tlie i)roj- 

 ect and left the gipsy moth to breed and spread unmo- 

 lested until 1905, when the enormous losses inflicted and 

 the continued increase in the size of the infested area com- 

 pelled the resumption of repressive work. In spite of the 

 expenditure of immense sums of money by both the state 



Fm. 141. 



Gipsy moth egg-masses in a cavity ii) 

 tree trunk. 



