No. 4.] THE GYPSY MOTH. 443 



were then transferred to the woodland colonies in the outer 

 towns along the Mystic valley. There much cutting was 

 done. Comparatively little work, therefore, will be required 

 in this region another year. In most cases the woods in the 

 outer towns are maintained by their owners merely for the 

 value of the trees as cord wood. This wood is periodically 

 cut by the owners for their own profit. Where this is the 

 case, it is economy for the Board to cut it a few years 

 sooner than otherwise it would be cut, as the expense of 

 inspecting and caring for the trees for three or four years 

 would be much greater than that of cutting off the wood. 



Examination of Extralimital Toavns. 



Several expert men were detailed to make an examination 

 during June and July of towns outside the infested region. 

 At that season, when the moths swarming in numbers in a 

 spot have reached the height of their destructiveness, their 

 injury to the foliage may be observed readily from the hill- 

 tops or from any point of vantage. Men supplied Avith 

 powerful glasses examined the territory within a wide arc 

 about the infested region. No indication of the moth was 

 found, however, except in Manchester. The condition of 

 this towm is treated of on page 453. In pursuance of a plan 

 suggested by Dr. L. O. Howard, entomologist to the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, in his report on the gypsy 

 moth, made to Congress in January, 1898, a bulletin, de- 

 scriptive of the gypsy moth and illustrative of its ravages, 

 has been prepared and is being distributed under my direc- 

 tion. It is intended to distribute this bulletin from house 

 to house in all the towns adjacent to the infested region. 

 Distributers are to call particular attention to the danger 

 which would threaten vegetation should the pest obtain a 

 foothold beyond the known infested region. They are also 

 to make such examination for the moth as can be made while 

 they are engaged in the distribution of the bulletins, and 

 to investigate any case of supposed gypsy moth infestation 

 of which they may hear. It is expected and believed that, 

 if any large colonies of the gypsy moth now exist outside 

 the region known to be infested, they will be discovered by 



