LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 
U.S. DEPARTMENT oF AGRICULTURE, 
BurREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY, 
Washington, D. C., March 27, 1911. 
Sir: I have the honor to transmit, for publication, a paper dealing 
with the danger of the general establishment throughout the United 
States of the gipsy moth and the brown-tail moth, which have been 
during the preceding two years, and are again the present year, 
imported from European countries on nursery stock and widely dis- 
tributed in the United States. While every effort has been made to 
examine and disinfect such imported stock, it is by no means certain 
that all of the infested shipments have been reported and examined 
by inspectors, especially as, in the absence of any law, all reports and 
work of this kind are more or less voluntary. There is, therefore, con- 
siderable danger that the brown-tail moth, or perhaps the gipsy 
moth, has already become established in one or more interior points. 
This paper gives a record of the infested importations during the 
last two years and descriptions of nursery conditions in Europe, 
showing the nature of the infestation there, and concludes with a - 
brief description, with illustrations, of the two moth pests which are 
now being thus imported. The publication is, therefore, a warning 
to users of such imported stock and gives descriptions and figures 
enabling the prompt recognition of either of these pests wherever they 
may become established. 
The nonexistence of a general law providing for the reporting of 
all imported stock and for uniform and thorough inspection and dis- 
infection of such stock makes it highly desirable that the information 
here given should be made promptly available and widely distributed. 
I recommend its publication as a Farmer’s Bulletin. 
Respectfully, 
L. O. Howarp, 
Entomologist and Chief of Bureau. 
Hon. James WILsoNn, 
Secretary of Agriculture. 
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