February, '17] DAVIS; GIPSY AND brown-tail moth 193 



variation in the size of the beetles as the largest may weigh five or six 

 times as much as the smallest. 



Control 



Fumigation with carbon bisulphide is the common method of con- 

 trol. If one has only a small quantity of beans to treat he may not 

 wish to use this method. The bean weevil in all its stages may be 

 killed by heat without injuring the beans. The embryos are killed in 

 10 minutes at 52° C; newly hatched larvae, in 7 minutes at 55°; full 

 grown larvge in beans, in 20 minutes at 55°; pupae in beans, in 25 

 minutes at 55°; and adults in 4 minutes at 55°. In practice these 

 short exposures will not be sufficient but the length of treatment 

 must vary with the quantity of beans and the type of receptacle. It 

 required nine hours for the center of two quarts of beans enclosed in 

 a tight paper bag to reach the surrounding temperature of 55° C. 

 The seed should be spread openly in shallow layers and subjected 

 to a temperature of 55° for about an hour. According to the in- 

 vestigations of others the germinating power is not injured at this 

 temperature. The bean weevil will not breed at cold temperatures. 

 It would be a good practice to place beans in cold storage or to ex- 

 pose them to the cold winter weather. 



President C. Gordon Hewitt: The last paper on the program 

 will be given by Mr. I. W. Davis. 



THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE GIPSY AND BROWN-TAIL 

 MOTHS IN CONNECTICUT 



By Irving W. Davis, New Haven, Conn. 



The gipsy moth of Europe was first taken in Connecticut in Ston- 

 ington, which lies in the southeastern corner of the state, in July, 

 1905, when Mr. Ernst Frensch, an amateur collector, caught two 

 female moths. This was not reported, however, until March, 1906, 

 when it became known through correspondence between Doctor 

 Britton and Mr. Frensch. Scouts were immediately employed, who 

 determined the extent of the infestation, which contained less than a 

 square mile of territory, and control measures were practised. This 

 work was continued from that time until 1914, but no trace of the pest 

 was found from 1911-1913, and the windspread of that year, which 

 infested several towns in the eastern end of the state, is now believed 

 to have caused this reinfestation. 



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