GYPSY MOTH 



2648 



GYPSY MOTH 



As a race the gypsies are long-lived; it is not 

 unusual to see among them men and women 

 of very advanced age who are still robust and 

 vigorous. Their religious system, if one exists, 

 is very vague, but traces of various forms of 

 paganism are to be found in some of their 

 customs and superstitions. In fancy they 

 people every wood and stream with spirits 

 whose influence must be sought and whose 

 wrath must be appeased by various rites and 

 charms. The gypsies pursue different wander- 

 ing occupations, such as basket-making, black- 

 smithing, tinkering, etc. Horse-trading is one 

 of the favorite activities of the men, and 

 almost the only one in England and America. 

 The women tell "fortunes." In Russia, Poland, 

 and especially in Hungary, they are noted 

 musicians, their melodies often figuring in 

 popular light operas, as in The Bohemian Girl, 

 whose "Gypsy Chorus" is remarkably tuneful. 

 There are probably 700,000 gypsies in Europe; 

 Asia has countless numbers of them, and they 

 are continually emigrating to the United States 

 and Australia. Modern gypsies are without 

 the romance credited to them by tradition and 

 fiction; and in carelessness of attire and general 

 lack of grooming, they rank with the vagrant 

 classes, and are usually regarded with dis- 

 favor. 



GYPSY MOTH. In its caterpillar stage the 

 gypsy moth is a destructive and dreaded pest. 

 It gets into oak, willow, elm and apple trees 

 especially, and eats them bare of foliage as if 

 a fire had swept over them. When those trees 

 are stripped, the greedy caterpillars attack 

 other fruit and shade trees, vines, shrubs and 

 garden and field crops. Even pines are some- 

 times attacked, and the trees die when all the 

 leaves are eaten. 



Just how or when insect pests reach certain 

 localities is not always known, but the history 

 of the gypsy moth in America is known from 

 its beginning. For centuries it had been de- 

 structive to fruit and shade trees in Central 

 Europe. Not until 1869, however, was it intro- 

 duced into America. A French scientist was 

 experimenting in Medford, Massachusetts, with 

 various American and European silkworms, try- 

 ing to find one which would be free from dis- 

 ease. Among his specimens were gypsy moths. 

 One day some of his specimens accidentally 

 escaped. He called the attention of the pub- 

 lic to the fact, but the matter was forgot- 

 ten until twenty years later, when the rav- 

 ages of the caterpillar became so severe in 

 Medford that the state was called to the aid 



of property owners. Then for ten years the 

 work of exterminating the moth was carefully 

 carried on, at an expense of about $1,000,000. 

 The work was then abandoned, as the insect 

 had become so scarce further appropriations 

 for the task seemed to be unnecessary. 



Since then, however, the moth has again 

 gradually multiplied and different sections of 

 the country have been obliged to take up the 

 work of destroying it. Half-grown caterpillars, 

 hanging from branches of trees, drop upon 

 passing animals and conveyances, and in that 

 way are carried to places not previously in- 

 fested. Gypsy moth colonies have been found 

 in Rhode Island and one as far west as the 

 vicinity of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1914 an ap- 

 propriation of $310,000 was made by the United 

 States for gypsy moth and brown-tail moth 

 investigation. Recent reports on the gypsy 

 moth are to the effect that it is less hardy and 

 more susceptible to disease than when it first 

 appeared in Massachusetts, and that it seems 

 to be changing its food plant. Inspectors ex- 

 amine all lumber products sent from Eastern 

 New England, most of that country being 

 quarantined against the gypsy and brown-tail 

 moths. 



The name gypsy moth is probably due to the 

 gypsylike, olive-brown color of the male moth. 

 He is a slender creature, with wings black- 

 marked. His wing-spread is about one and a 

 half inches. The feelers (antennae) are beau- 

 tifully featherlike. The female gypsy moth is 

 heavier and lighter colored than the male; she 

 is white or buff colored, and her markings are 

 less distinct. Although her wings are well de- 

 veloped and have a spread of about two inches, 

 she never flies. The male flies late in the 

 afternoon and early in the evening in a peculiar 

 zigzag path. 



In July and August, yellowish, hair-covered 

 masses of eggs are laid on tree trunks, rocks 

 and fences. The clusters vary in size and con- 

 tain from 75 to 1,000 eggs, about one-twentieth 

 of an inch in diameter. Hardy and unharmed 

 by wind or weather, these eggs develop through 

 the winter, and from the last of April until 

 the middle of June hatch into little, black- 

 headed, hairy caterpillars with bodies brownish- 

 yellow. The young stay on the egg clusters 

 from one to five days, then start to feed on leaf 

 hairs. Very soon they eat holes in the leaves. 

 They shed their coverings three or four times. 

 During the day the caterpillars usually hide, 

 but at night they feast on the foliage of fruit 

 and shade trees. 



