No. 4.] THE GYPSY MOTH. 267 



known infested territory and the towns immediately outside 

 of it, and to do all the effective work possible in one year 

 towards the extermination of the moth, and an appropriation 

 of $1(35,000 was asked for. An appropriation of $100,000 

 was made by the Legislature and approved April 12, 

 1893. While the work was suspended awaiting the appro- 

 priation several of the best and most experienced men left 

 the employ of the committee for other situations, thus 

 greatly reducing the efficiency of the force. By reason of 

 this delay also, at least six weeks of the best working time 

 of the year passed ])y unutilized. It was evident that with 

 an appropriation more than one-third smaller than that 

 deemed necessary by the committee, some parts of the field 

 would have to be (to a certain extent) neglected that other 

 parts might be cleared. It was then decided not to attempt 

 to exterminate the moth from the central towns in 1<S93, but 

 to hold them in check there and, if possible, destroy those 

 in the outer towns, thus reducing the area to be worked 

 thereafter. In pursuance of this plan a large part of the 

 force was distributed in the peripheral towns. A sufficient 

 number of men were stationed in each town to do all that 

 could be done to advantage towards securino^ there the 

 extermination of the moth as speedily as possible. 



A large amount of money was spent in inspection or search- 

 ing the towns just outside the limit within which the moth 

 had been already found. Many points in this territory had 

 been quite as much exposed to the possible introduction of 

 the moth as some localities where it was known to exist. It 

 was also imperative that all the territory in the towns but 

 little infested should be thoroughly gone over. While this 

 work did not directly operate to reduce the number of moths, 

 the information tlius obtained was al)solutely necessary to 

 enable the director to work intelligently on the whole prob- 

 lem of extermination. Nearly $13,000 was expended in 

 this work of searching. Only three colonies were found in 

 the outside territory, and all but one of them are in close 

 proximity to the boundaries of infested towns. The effort at 

 extermination in the outside towns has, we believe, been 

 quite successful, and the territory for future work other 

 than inspection has thereby been materially reduced. The 



