8 



education. Then communities must take the matter up thru town- 

 improvement societies and organizations of other character, and, best 

 of all, sound State laws comparable to the one now operating in the 

 State of Massachusetts must be enacted and enforced in the other 

 States. This bulletin is prepared to aid in the first step — education. 

 Other bulletins have been issued b}" the Superintendent for Suppressing 

 the Gipsy and Brown-Tail Moths in Massachusetts, b}^ the Commis- 

 sioner for the Suppression of the Gipsy and Brown-Tail Moths in Rhode 

 Island, and by the State entomologists of New Hampshire, Maine, and 

 Connecticut. All of these bulletins « have been published within the 

 last eight months. 



The subject has also been covered by the New York State entomol- 

 ogist. Dr. E. P. Felt, of Albany, N. Y. , and by the New Jersey State 

 entomologist, Dr. John B. Smith, Rutgers College, New Brunswick, 

 N. J. These last two publications are in annual reports, together 

 with a consideration of other insects, and are not specific bulletins, as 

 in the case of the others. 



THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH IN EUROPE. 



The brown-tail moth has a wide Old-World distribution. It has for 

 many years been a well-known member of the so-called Palearctic 

 fauna. It extends from England east to the Himalayas, and has been 

 found as far north as Sweden and as far south as Algeria. It is well 

 known as an orchard pest thruout the greater part of this range, 

 and has occasionally appeared in such numbers as to attract general 

 attention. For nearly a hundred years laws have been operative in 

 parts of Europe requiring property owners to clear their trees of the 

 winter nests. The life history of the insect has been well known in 

 Europe for about two hundred years, has been the subject of many 

 publications, and is referred to in most of the general works. 



INTRODUCTION INTO AMERICA AND SUBSEQUENT SPREAD. 



The attention of entomologists was first drawn to the occurrence of 

 this species in the United States in the spring of 1897, when certain 

 residents of Somerville and Cambridge, Mass., found a strange cater- 

 pillar feeding on the unfolded leaves of their pear trees. The atten- 

 tion of the State of Massachusetts gipsy moth committee was called 



« Persons desiring to consult these publications may apply to the following officials: 

 Mr. A. H. Kirkland, 6 Beacon street, Boston, Mass. 

 Prof. A. E. Stene, Kingston, R. I. 



Prof. E. Dwight Sanderson, New Hampshire College, Durham, N. H. 

 Prof. E. F. Hitchings, Augusta, Me. 



Miss Edith M. Patch, Agricultural Experiment Station, Orono, Me. 

 Prof. W. E. Britton, Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn. 



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