No. 4.] THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH. 385 



hand, no colony of the brown-tail moth since the insect be- 

 came well established has yet been exterminated. Cities like 

 Cambridge and Somerville, cleared of this pest in 1898, have 

 been reinfested through the actively flying female moths. In 

 the three years in which the brown-tail moth has been known 

 as a pest in this country it has become distributed over nearly 

 four times the area occupied by the gypsy moth in thirty 

 years. If a part of the funds requested and needed for work 

 against the gypsy moth are to be annually set apart for the 

 destruction of the brown-tail moth, neither undertaking can. 

 be brought to a successful conclusion. Your committee is 

 willing to continue the direction of the work against the 

 brown-tail moth if the Legislature so indicates its desire by 

 making a separate appropriation for the purpose. In justice 

 to itself, however, it feels obliged to register a protest 

 against continued expenditures in a work whose impossi- 

 bility is patent, while the extermination of the gypsy moth, 

 whose entire possibility has been thoroughly demonstrated, 

 sufifers from inadequate financial support. 



The following is the statement of expenditures made in 

 combating the brown-tail moth : — 



Financial Statement for 1899, — Broum-tail Moth. 



Balance on hand Jan. 1, 1899, $1 04 



Appropriation for the year 1899, 10,000 00 



Wages of employees, 

 Balance on hand Jan. 1, 1900, 



E. W. WOOD. 

 AUGUSTUS PRATT. 



F. W. SARGENT. 

 N. I. BOWDITCH. 

 JOHN M. DANFORTH. 

 J. W. STOCKWELL. 



