DANGEK OF SPREAD OF GIPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. 15 



importation of insect-infested or diseased plant stock. Referring 

 to European powers only, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Hol- 

 land, Switzerland, and Turkey prohibit absolutely the entry from 

 the United States of all nursery stock whatever. Furthermore, our 

 fruits are admitted to these countries only when a most rigid exami- 

 nation shows freedom from insect infestation. Most of the other 

 European countries have strict quarantine and inspection laws, and 

 the same is true of important English and other colonial possessions. 



A properly enforced quarantine inspection law in the past would 

 have excluded many, if not most, of the foreign insect enemies which 

 are now levying an enormous tax upon the products of the farms, 

 orchards, and forests of this country. Fully 50 per cent of the insect 

 pests in this country are of foreign origin, and new important foreign 

 pests are becoming established practically every year. 



It is of the greatest importance, therefore, that an adequate inspec- 

 tion and quarantine law be passed at the earliest moment. 



BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF THE 

 GIPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. 



THE GIPSY MOTH. 



The gipsy moth (Porthelria dispar L.) is an European pest which 

 was accidentally introduced into Massachusetts nearly 40 years ago, 

 and has since spread rather slowly, being still confined to the eastern 

 part of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the southern part of New 

 Hampshire, and to more or less isolated localities in eastern Connect- 

 icut and southwestern Maine. 



The presence of this insect was first discovered in Boston in 1889, 

 and the State of Massachusetts for a number of years kept up a 

 vigorous effort to exterminate the insect, making large appropriations 

 therefor. This work was abandoned, however, in 1900, but the con- 

 ditions soon became so bad that appropriations were again made in 

 1905, and have since been continued annually. In spite of the work 

 of that State, the situation became so serious that the National Gov- 

 ernment, particularly on the ground of the great danger that these 

 pests would soon spread to other States, was called upon to assist, 

 and since 1907 Congress has been making annual appropriations to 

 aid in the work of control. The amount of this appropriation is now 

 $300,000 annually. 



The destructive work of the gipsy moth has been referred to in 

 the foregoing portions of this bulletin. A brief sketch is here given 

 of the life history and habits of the insect with photographs to aid 

 anyone in promptly recognizing it should it appear in new localities. 



The gipsy moth has a wide distribution throughout middle and 

 southern Europe, northern Africa, and Asia, including Japan. In a 



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