492 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



cooperation of the U. S. Bureau of Entomology is introducing 

 in hope that they may ultimately be as effective in this country 



against both the brown-tail and 

 gipsy moths. The most effective 

 natural check of the brown-tail cat- 

 erpillar is a fungous disease which 

 often completely destroys large col- 

 onies, both in the spring and fall. 



Control. On fruit and shade trees 

 the winter nests may be pruned 

 off and burned in winter, thus pre- 

 venting any injury the next spring, 

 but this is impracticable on forest 

 trees, which as a rule are not seri- 

 ously injured. The repeated prun- 

 ing often injures the trees, as it is 

 difficult to cut all the nests with- 

 out removing more of the new 

 growth than is desirable. It is bet- 

 ter, therefore, to spray the trees 

 with arsenate of lead, 4 pounds to 

 the barrel, as soon as the eggs hatch 

 in late summer, and thus destroy 

 the young larvae before they have 

 spun their winter webs. 



FIG. 417. Brown-tail moths as- The Gi P s y Moth * 



History.-^ Gipsy Moth has 



(After Kirkland.) been known as a serious insect pest 



in Europe from the time of the earliest naturalists, the first 

 authentic record being in 1662. It extends throughout the con- 

 tinent of Europe, over much of Asia and into Northern Africa, 

 but is chiefly injurious in Central and Eastern Europe. It fre- 



* Porthetria dispar Linn. Family Liparidce. See Forbush and Fernald, 

 "The Gipsy Moth," Mass. State Board of Agr. (1892); L. O. Howard, 

 Farmers' Bulletin 275, U. S. Dept. Agr. ; Annual Reports of the Mass. Super- 

 intendent for the Suppression of the Gypsy and Brown-tail Moths; E. D. 

 Sanderson, Bulletin 136, N. H. Agr. Exp. Sta.; Rogers and Burgess, Bulletin 

 87, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. Agr., containing bibliography, and 

 A. F. Burgess, Bulletin 204, U. S. Dept. Agr. 



