10 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
destruction of the insect, the foliage of tall trees was sprayed with arseni- 
cal poison in order to kill the caterpillars, egg-clusters were scraped off 
and burnt, and weeds and rubbish in rough localities which were known 
te be infested were cleared away by means of a hose discharging blazing 
kerosene. The apparatus employed was of the most ingenious and per- 
fect description and was largely the invention and product of members 
of the staff. 
The result of ten years work, notwithstanding many interruptions 
caused by delayed appropriations at times when money was most needed 
for energetic work in the spring of the year, has been on the whole very 
satisfactory. The infested area has been greatly reduced and the injury 
caused by the insect, where it still occurs, is comparatively insignificant. 
Jt seems evident that complete control and the ultimate extermination 
of the insect may be looked for, if the work is continued for a few years 
longer on its present scale. The Legislature of Massachusetts deserves 
the greatest praise for originating and sustaining this scientific campaign 
against a wide-spread insect pest, and the utmost credit should be given 
te Professors Fernald and Forbush, and Mr. Kirkland for the wisdom and 
skill with which they have conducted this remarkable and unprecedented 
. work. It is earnestly to be hoped that there will be no relaxation in the 
efforts that are being made until the insect has been brought under such 
control and its presence restricted to such limited localities that only a 
small force will be required for its oversight and a moderate expenditure 
be involved. There is unhappily a strong opposition to the whole work 
on the part of some of the taxpayers of the State and it is greatly to be 
feared that the necessary expenditure may be seriously curtailed or even 
entirely stopped. The adoption of such a policy will not only mean the 
absolute waste of all the time and money and labour that have thus far 
been expended, but also the gradual spread of the insect over the whole 
State and in time, no doubt, over the whole of the continent as far as the 
Rocky Mountains to the West and the Arctic regions to the North. The 
rate of progress is fortunately slow and probably the sight of leafless 
trees and devastated orchards and woodlands will cause energetic 
measures to be again adopted before the spread of the insect has got en- 
tirely beyond control. Any mistaken economy now will surely result in 
enormous losses in the future ; those who object to the expenditure will 
find in a few years that the injuries caused by this insect will far exceed 
in cost the amounts that now seem so large when applied to its 
destruction. 
[Since the above was written, Prof. Fernald informs me that 
the committee appointed early in the session of the Legislature of Mas- 
sachusetts to investigate the work on the extermination of the Gypsy 

