20 



The opiuiou was expressed to me by promiueut P^utomologists in 

 Eui'ope, ihat if tlie Gipsy-moth should gel- a foothold in ihis country, 

 it would become a far greater pest than the Colorado potato beetle, 

 because it is so prolilic, and feeds on so n)any different plants, while 

 the potato beetle confines itself to a small number. 



KNEMIES OF THE GIPSY MOTH. 



In Europe eleven species of the Iclineumonidm and seven species 

 of flies (Tachvta) have been known to attack the eggs and cater- 

 pillars ot this moth, but it is not known that there are any parasitic 

 insects in this country that destro}' it. Undoubtedly our piedaceous 

 beetles and bugs destroy more or less of them, and mud-wasps and 

 spiders are also to be counted among their enemies. 



HOW TO DESTllOY THEM. 



All the masses of eggs should be scraped from the trees and other 

 places where the females have deposited them, and burned. Crushing 

 is not sufficient, as possibly some might escape uninjured. This 

 should be done in the fail, winter or eai-ly spring before the eggs 

 hatch. It is not at all probable that one will find all the egg-masses 

 even with the most careful searching on the trees in a small orchard ; 

 but when one remembers that this insect deposits its eggs on all 

 kinds of shade and forest trees also, it appears a hopeless task to 

 exterminate this pest by an attempt to destroy the eggs. It is a 

 habit of these eaterpilfars, after they have emerged, to cluster 

 together on the truidxs or branches of the trees between the times of 

 feeding, and this affords an opportunity of destroying vast numbeis 

 by crushing then) ; and after they have changed to pupae they may 

 be destroyed wherever they can be found. The female moths are so 

 sluggish in their flight, and so conspicuous, that they may be easily 

 captured and destroyed as soon as they emerge ; yet any one or all 

 of these methods which have been emi)loyed in Europe are not 

 sufficient for their extermination. At best they will only reduce the 

 numbers more or less according to the thoroughness with which the 

 work has been done. I could not learn that any attempts have ever 

 been made in Europe to destroy this insect by means of poisonous 

 insecticides, and it is to this method that we may look for positive 

 results in this country. 



If all the trees in the infested region in Medford be thoroughly 

 showered with Paris Gieen in water (1 lb. to loO gallons), soon after 

 the hatching of the eggs in the spring, the young caterpillars will 

 surely be destroyed, and if any escape, it will be because of some 

 neglect or ignorance in the use of the insecticide. It will be abso- 

 lutely necessary to shower every tree and shrub in that region, for, if 

 a single tree be neglected, it may yield a crop sufficiently large to 

 eventually restock the region. 



I can hardly feel confident that all these insects can be extermi- 

 nated in one year, but if this work of showering the trees be 



