DANGER OF GENERAL SPREAD OF THE GIPSY AND 
BROWN-TAIL MOTHS THROUGH IMPORTED NURSERY 
STOCK. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Winter nests of the brown-tail moth, each filled with hundreds of 
young larve, and occasional egg masses of the gipsy moth have been 
brought into the United States, the former in enormous numbers, dur- 
ing 1909-10 on imported nursery stock, and the importations for the 
season of 1911 are again bringing in these brown-tail moth nests. This 
infested stock, coming largely from nurseries in northern France, has 
been scattered widely over the United States east of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and while every effort has been made to trace these importa- 
tions and inspect and disinfect them the probability of many unre- 
ported shipments or inefficient inspection is very great. 
A general warning is therefore gwen to all users of such imported 
plant stock, namely, to nurserymen, fruit rarsers, and purchasers of 
ornamentals for city or park planting, to keep all such imported stock 
under strict watch.to see that these pests do not develop. 
As an aid in this direction this bulletin has been prepared. It 
gives a record of the infested importations of the past two years, a 
review of the nursery conditions in Europe showing the nature of 
contamination there, and a brief description, with illustrations, of the 
two moth pests which are now being imported and widely distributed. 
IMPORTATIONS OF INFESTED NURSERY STOCK OF 1909-1911. 
Space will not be taken to give the details of the shipment and dis- 
tribution of infested nursery stock during these years. Some idea of 
the situation can be gained, however, from the following brief sum- 
mary of importations, drawn largely from the annual reports of the 
Bureau of Entomology by Dr. Howard for the two years in question. 
BROWN-TAIL MOTH NESTS IMPORTED IN 1909. 
Karly in 1909 it was discovered that nests of the brown-tail moth, 
filled with hundreds of small hibernating larve, were being introduced 
into this country on imported European nursery stock—chiefly from 
453 . 
