16 DANGER OF SPREAD OF GIPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. 
large portion of the Old World range of the gipsy moth it is occasion- 
ally abundant and injurious, but as a rule it is held in check by 
parasites and natural enemies, and in no instance have there been 
such continuous and disastrous depredations as those exhibited in 
Massachusetts and more recently in the adjacent New England 
States.! 
Kuropean outbreaks usually terminate in two or three years. 
Nevertheless in recent years in Europe and Asia exceptional out- 
breaks have occurred in which thousands of acres of forests have 
been completely denuded, and where such denudation has been 
repeated for two or three years in succession enormous areas have 
been found covered with dead and dying trees. 
The following description of the different 
stages and habits of the insect is reproduced 
from Farmers’ Bulletin 275 (pp. 12 to 15): 
Description of the different stages of the insect. 
The eggs.—The eggs of the gipsy moth are laid in 
masses (fig. 1) of about 500. The individual egg is mi- 
nute, about the size of a pinhead, and is salmon-colored 
when first laid, but turns dark in the course of a few 
weeks. Each egg mass is yellowish in appearance and 
seems covered with hair. It is somewhat oval, being 
one-half of an inch long and about three-fourths of an 
inch wide. During winter, from exposure to moisture 
in the atmosphere, it becomes dingy white in color. 
Egg masses have been found on bark of imported ‘stock 
during the last two years, and inspectors should be on 
the lookout for them. 
The larva, or caterpillar.—The young larve or young 
: caterpillars are dark in. color and well furnished with 
3 eae fe ane e, Pb aa dark hairs. The full-grown larva (fig. 2) is between 2 
Kirkland.) and 3 inches long, dark brown or sooty in color, with 
two rows of red spots and two rows of blue spots along 
the back, and witha yellowish but rather dim stripe between them. The body gen- 
erally is clothed with long hairs, and sometimes reaches the length of 3 inches. 
The pupa.—The pupa (fig. 3) is not inclosed within a perfect cocoon, but the full- 
grown larva spins a few threads of silk as a sort of support and changes to the pupa, 
which is dark reddish or chocolate in color and very thinly sprinkled with light reddish 
hairs. - 
The adult, or moth.—The male moth (fig. 4) is brownish yellow in color, sometimes 
having a greenish-brown tinge; it has a slender body, well-feathered antenne, and a 
wing expanse of about an inch and a half. The forewings are marked with wavy zigzag 
darker lines. It flies actively all day as well as by night. 
The female moth (fig. 5) is nearly white, with slender black antenne, each of the fore- 
wings marked with three or four zigzag, transverse, dark lines, and the outer border of 
both pairs of wings with a series of black dots. The body of the female is so heavy as to 
prevent flight. 
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1 For a more detailed account of the gipsy moth, see Farmers’ Bulletin No. 275 (1907) and Bulletin 87 
(1910), Bureau of Entomology, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
4538 
