xlvi THE GYPSY MOTH. 



The field methods of searching for the eggs, larvae and pupae, 

 the burlappiug of the trees and the careful burning of infested 

 areas was thorough and practical. 



Upon the whole, the methods which have been born of experi- 

 ence and adopted by the committee for coping with the pest 

 impressed me as ingenious and eifective. I have no criticisms to 

 offer upon the work of the committee, and regard the results 

 obtained as marvellous. 



Entomologists are generally agreed that it is impossible to 

 exterminate an insect by means of its parasites, so all that can be 

 hoped for in this direction is uncertain aid in holding it in check. 

 Whether it is possil)le to exterminate an insect by persistent and 

 thorough hand-picking, use of insecticides and fire is problematical, 

 because it has never been tried. It is a plausible problem, which 

 we hope, for the good of economic entomology, the gypsy moth 

 committee may have the opportunity to settle. By the efficient 

 work of the committee, in three years' time, this insect, which was 

 legion and doing great damage over a wide area, has been reduced 

 beyond detection by common observation. We spent a whole day 

 in the field, and, though constantly on the alert for specimens, 

 saw only four male moths and no larvae, pupae or eggs. So thor- 

 oughly has the work been done that intelligent people in the dis- 

 trict wrongly regard the work of the committee accomplished. It 

 is the scattering colonies, the last one per cent., that will demand 

 more thorough work than the other ninety-nine per cent. , and your 

 Legislature and citizens will need to be thoroughly impressed with 

 this fact. 



Two policies present themselves : first, whether an attempt be 

 made to fight the moth to the finish ; second, whether an attempt 

 be made to merely keep it in check, and prevent an increase to 

 harmful numbers. 



The gratifying work of the committee so far would suggest 

 continuance in the good work, with the idea of extermination. 

 This would absolutely require the employment of a force of men 

 large enough to keep the whole infested area under constant sur- 

 veillance for some time. The present number of men employed 

 seems to me to be inadequate, as large areas in the infested dis- 

 trict have to be neglected while inspection is going on in others. 

 Unless a large force can be kept constantly employed for some 

 years, the idea of extermination will have to be abandoned by the 

 committee. 



If the second policy be adopted, then the work of the commit- 

 tee for the present is practically done. Yet a permanent force 

 would be needed to keep the area under occasional svu'veillance» 



