ITS DISTRIBUTION CHANGED. 115 



left. But we have now sufficient data for the belief that the 

 moths found in most colonies in the outer towns in 1891, 

 1892 and 1893 have been exterminated. In this way the 

 outward spread of the moth to new territory has been 

 restricted. It has been necessary, as a part of the policy pur- 

 sued in preventing the spreading of the moth towards towns 

 outside the boundary of the infested region, to search carefully 

 the borders of highways and streets in towns and cities, as it 

 was from cultivated grounds in populous towns and by high- 

 ways leading from the towns that the moths were mostly dis- 

 tributed. As the moths in the woods spread slowly, and were 

 less liable to transportation outside the infested region than 

 those in the residential and business sections, work was con- 

 centrated upon these districts to the neglect of the woodland. 

 As has already been stated, the centres of distribution in 1891 

 coincided with the centres of population, and in the attempt to 

 clear these centres and prevent injury to valuable trees and 

 plants the larger part of each appropriation was used. From 

 what was learned yearly by the woodland searchers it was be- 

 lieved that the moths were increasing and spreading in the 

 woods. The committee in charge of the work stated this be- 

 lief year after year to the legislative committees and strongly 

 urged in their reports to the Legislature that more money be 

 appropriated for the inspection of the woodlands and the 

 destruction of the moths within their borders. Sufficient 

 appropriations not being forthcoming the result of the neg- 

 lect of the woodland is now shown in the present distribution 

 of the moth. The normal diffusion from centres coinciding 

 with the centres of population has given place to a much 

 slower dissemination from centres situated in the woodlands 

 of the north-central infested towns. Though much work 

 has been done in these woodlands it has been from necessity 

 superficial and has merely resulted in partially holding the 

 moths in check. In some localities where the woods were 

 not searched the increase and spread have been unimpeded 

 because the colonies were not known. 



In the report of the work of the year 1894, made by the 

 Board of Agriculture to the Legislature, it was stated as 

 probable that the moths were scattered through the woods 

 from Lexington to the sea. That this probability has be- 



