A«illIClTI,T!'RAL AI'I'HOIMUATION BII.I., IW4. 305 



lilxTiilitl III (iiUcn'iii IdciilHu's in tlu' iiifr^irtl ami Thi'ir lif«' Im- 

 torv has hrcii sUnlli'd. iiiul \vr liavr ullfinpU'il In takr «'\ t-ry a«lvunlut{« 

 possible (»f thosi' nnturiil cnoinij's in hrlpiiij^ l<» loduco the trouble. 



Mr. Andkkson. Oan y«»ii tell us juiytliiu},' about wlirtluT ihry 

 have any «•([(•(•( or not ( 



Mr. liru(JK.ss. Oh, yon. That is (heckrd up. and wo can jjrt u 

 very (h'linite lino on the olToct of the parasites that attack the •'KJi^'. 

 because we can make a coMection (»f a (lelinite number of e<;t; (lusters. 

 We know dednitely the ninnber of e;;t^s and we can <h'termine delinite- 

 Iv the parasitism i»f tlie e«^{^s. But it is a «;o(»d deal more di(li<ult to 

 determine the hen<«lit that is derived from parasitism of the <ater- 

 pillars, because in a «;ood many of tliese cases parasitism is likely 

 to be (juite local, and there are some species that may be ver\ abiiri- 

 <lant in one locality and may not Ix' in another. 



The parasitism has increased, and there are some elements, such 

 as the effect of extremely cold winters that reduce the number of erjpj 

 clusters in (lifferent years. liut. unfortunatclv, the e<;<; clusters that 

 are protected bv snow or ice are not killed off by the extremely low 

 temperature. 



As 1 said, the most easily collected parasites from abroad have 

 been secured and broui^ht in. but tiiere are some others that we have 

 records of that are apparently abundant only at special times -that 

 is, when the gypsy moth is particularly abundant in some localities — 

 and those are species that we would like to brin<; in, becaus(» we want 

 to get all the help that we possibly can, and for that rea.son work was 

 taken up this summer in Europe antl in Japan along that line and 

 some interesting information was secured. One shipment of para.sites 

 was sent over from Japan; it is the most diflicult to bring those 

 livinsr thintrs through in good condition; owing to failure in the 

 proper icing between Seattle and Boston the greater portum of the 

 individuals in the shipment died. But we did secure some breeding 

 stock, and it has been placed in the field, particularly in southern 

 Massachusetts aiul Connecticut. We also sent some down to New 

 Jersey. We have made it a point in that New Jersey work to send 

 panisites from New England down into that section, particularly 

 those parasites that can maintain tliemselves on other hosts besides 

 the gypsy moth. 



They will not only be beneficial in curtailing the increase of the 

 caterpillars, but if there are stray caterj)illars of the gypsv moth, it 

 will give the species a chance to do some good work and lielj) along 

 the fu'M work, that we are trying to do. 



rilOORES.S ON THK KXTKKMIN ATION OK BROW.N-TAII, MOTH. 



Doctor Howard spoke about the brown-tail moth. We have done 

 some work on that insect. The maximum area or spread of the 

 l)rown tail moth was in 11>14. It was in about half of NIaiiu'. three- 

 (|uarters of New Hampshire, one-half of Vermont, three-c|uarters of 

 Massachusetts, the whole of Rhode Island, and oiu'-third of (\)n- 

 necticut. al.so a small section at the end of Long Islaiul. This year 

 our record indicates that there has been a great reduction, from year 

 to year, which amounts to 07 per cent of the area, based on the 

 maximum for the year 1014. 



Mr. Am)KI{S()\. What is the brown-tail moth ^ 



