PREFACE. 



This report is respectfully submitted for the benefit of 

 the people of Massachusetts, especially those residing in 

 the district infested by the gypsy moth, who have suffered 

 from the injuries inflicted hy the insect. The design of the 

 report is to present, within the prescribed limits, as full a 

 history as possible of what is known about the gypsy moth 

 in Massachusetts ; also to give a brief r^siim^ of its history 

 abroad. We have endeavored to present most fully those 

 features of the subject which are most important from a 

 practical and economic standpoint. That clause in chapter 

 71 of the Resolves of 1894 which authorizes the prepara- 

 tion for printing "of the scientific facts ascertained" has 

 been kept in view, and much matter of a more or less scien- 

 tific or technical nature, which has come under our notice in 

 connection with the field work or while making the inves- 

 tigations and experiments with which we have been charged, 

 has been recorded in this volume. The investigations of 

 the life history and habits of many of those forms of animal 

 life which exert controlling influences upon the gypsy moth 

 have not yet proceeded far enough to allow the results to be 

 fully chronicled. A summary of the results of some of the 

 most important experiments is given, and, w^here observa- 

 tions have been made by a sufficient number of individuals 

 to warrant the drawing of conclusions, such conclusions 

 have been recorded. A further study of the parasites and 

 enemies of the gypsy moth is in progress. 



Part I. of this volume records such of the most impor- 



