86 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



provided with well-developed wings, do not fly. After 

 mating, the females at once deposit their eggs, the life cycle 

 of the insect usually being completed by the middle ot Au- 

 gust. As the egg masses are usually laid near the ground, 

 and are conspicuous for some eight or nine months, it is 

 obvious that this season is an excellent time to combat the 

 insect. The spongy egg masses should be saturated with a 

 mixture of creosote oil, containing 15 per cent coal tar in- 

 corporated by the aid of heat. The addition of the tar is 

 not necessary for the destruction of the eggs, but is desirable 



in order to color the treated 

 nests, thereby distinguishing 

 them from those untreated. 

 In extremely cold weather the 

 mixture thickens, and should 

 be thinned by the addition of 

 turpentine or benzine. 



Where this work of egg de- 

 struction has been neglected, 

 and the caterpillars allowed to 

 hatch, chief reliance should be 

 laid upon a thorough spraying 

 of the foliage with arsenate of 

 lead as soon as it develops. 

 Advantage should also be 

 taken of the habit of the cater- 

 pillars in seeking shelter, by 

 tying bands of burlap loosely 

 about the trunks of the in- 

 fested trees at a convenient height. These bands should be 

 examined every day, and the caterpillars concealed beneath 

 them destroyed. 



The chief characteristics of the gypsy moth which make it 

 so serious a pest are its wide range of food plants, feeding, 

 as it does, on all deciduous trees and nearly all conifers ; its 

 relative immunity from attacks by parasites ; and its insid- 

 ious night attacks, whereby entire trees are often defoliated 

 before the presence of the insect in force is suspected. 



In the attempt to exterminate the gypsy moth the State 



FIG. 3. Full-grown caterpillar of gypsy 

 moth. 



