74 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 6 



I think there is a good deal to be said in commendation. The work 

 that Mr. Severin did is much to his credit, but you cannot blame peo- 

 ple for resenting criticism when they are doing the best they can. I 

 am sorry that Mr. Severin's work was interrupted. It was very inter- 

 esting and has added much to our knowledge of the fly. 



President W. D. Hunter: The next paper will be presented by 

 Mr. C. H. Hadley, Jr., on "A City's Attempt to Trap Brown-tail 

 Moths." 



A CITY'S ATTEMPT TO TRAP BROWN-TAIL MOTHS 



By C. H. Hadley, .Jr., Durham, N. H. 

 (Paper not received for publication.) 



Mr. F. L. Washburn: I should like to have you give some data 

 on the relative number of male and female noctuid moths, which came 

 to the lights. 



Mr. C. H. Hadley, Jr.: We secured no data on the number of 

 noctuid moths. 



Mr. A. F. Burgess : In connection with the data given in this paper 

 I will say that during the summer of 1910 a series of experiments was 

 €onducted in Reading, Mass., for the purpose of determining the per- 

 €entage of male and female brown-tail moths that could be trapped at 

 arc lights. In all thirteen separate lights were used and the experi- 

 ments were carried on throughout the month of July. A considerable 

 variation occurs in the number of the sexes secured during different 

 times in this month. In 1910 the first moths were caught July 1 and 

 the last ones July 29. Over 78,000 were secured and these .were pre- 

 served and carefully examined during the winter; 71 per cent, of the 

 insects were males and of the females only 2/10 per cent, had deposited 

 their eggs. At these trap-lights large numbers of other insects were 

 secured. An interesting feature was that a very large percentage of 

 the female tent caterpillar moths, that were secured in the traps, had 

 already deposited their eggs. I cannot give the relative percentage 

 of male and female noctuid moths which were obtained, although I 

 think we have some data on this subject. 



Mr. p. J. Parrott: Is this trap considered a promising method 

 for general use? 



Mr. a. F. Bur&ess: Most of the traps which we used consisted of 

 a pan in which was placed water and a small amount of oil. The 

 labor of cleaning these every day was considerable and we did not 

 think they were a practical method of control. 



