6 DANGER OF SPREAD OF GIPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. 
northern France—and distributed into many States. These brown- 
tail moth nests were first reported in connection with a consignment 
of seedlings shipped from Angers, France, to New York. The nests 
were discovered by the New York State inspector, and the informa- 
tion was communicated to the Bureau of Entomology by the com- 
missioner of agriculture of that State. 
A little later information came from Ohio that the winter nests of 
the brown-tail moth had been found on seedlings imported into that 
State from the same locality in France. 
Warning letters were promptly sent out by Dr. L. O. Howard, chief 
of the Bureau of Entomology, to the different entomologists, and special 
arrangements were made with the customs office, through the kindness 
of theSecretary of the Treasury, and by agreement with the railroads, so 
that this bureau was to be informed of all cases of plants received at 
customs or subsequently handled by the principal railroad companies. 
By this means the receipt and ultimate destination was ascertained 
of much of the imported stock of that year. This information was 
transmitted to the State inspectors and other competent persons near 
the points of ultimate destination of such packages and an effort was 
made to have all such imported material inspected. 
Information was secured concerning nearly 800 shipments, divided 
among 35 different States. In shipments to 15 of these States, 
namely, Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, lowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mary- 
land, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, 
North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, nests of the brown-tail moth 
were found, ranging in number from one nest to many nests in each 
shipment. These brown-tail nests—little webbed packets of leaves 
containing the very small hibernating larve to the number of 300 or 
400 in each nest—were found on the seedling and other nursery stock 
in enormous numbers, some 7,000 nests (approximately 2,800,000 
larvee) being found in shipments to New York State alone. 
In one locality in Ohio an egg mass of the gipsy moth was found 
and Prof. P. J. Parrott, of the New York Experiment Station, at 
Geneva, N. Y., found another important European fruit pest (Hypo- 
nomeuta padella), which had probably been introduced on these 
same French seedlings. 
BROWN-TAIL MOTH NESTS IMPORTED IN 1910. 
In view of the dangerous conditions of the shipments of 1909, a 
strong effort was made on the part of Dr. Howard to have the French 
authorities provide for the competent inspection and disinfection of 
material preliminary to the shipping season of 1910. Im spite of 
promises of the authorities that such inspection would be made, the 
shipments of nursery stock from France in 1910 again brought to 
this country enormous quantities of nests of the brown-tail moth, 
458 
