No. 4.] THE GYPSY MOTH. 459 



the burlapping, and therefore a few eggs were found in the 

 fall. The town has been gone over thoroughly, and no 

 moths are now known to exist there. 



Woburn. 

 The residential and business portions of Woburn appear 

 to be in at least fifty per cent better condition as regards 

 the gypsy moth than they were in the fall of 1897. The 

 bad colonies are either entirely or nearly wiped out. The 

 single scattered caterpillars found under burlaps this year 

 were much fewer than last year. There were some plaees 

 where it was necessary to do away with the hiding-places 

 of the caterpillars by cutting brush and covering holes in 

 trees. A few larvae were taken during the summer in the 

 older woodland colonies of Woburn, and in some of them a 

 few egg-clusters were found. All the necessary work to 

 put these colonies in good condition for 1899 is now being 

 done. All the woodland in the town should be thoroughly 

 inspected before the eggs hatch in the spring. 



The Central Towns. 



Under the head of central towns are included those in 

 or near the centre of the infested region which are most 

 infested. Although these towns are all generally infested, 

 there is considerable difference in their relative condition, 

 Winchester being probably now the least and Medford or 

 Maiden the most infested. 



Melrose. 

 The northern portion of Melrose is in excellent condition. 

 Much of the woodland in the south-western part of the town 

 which is contained in the Middlesex Fells Reservation is 

 infested, and the moths have probably spread there since a 

 year ago. The worst woodland colony in the southern part 

 of the town has been well cleared up and the moths there 

 greatly reduced. Owing to the necessity of using nearly 

 all the force employed in this division in Maiden for a large 

 part of the summer, Melrose was somewhat neglected, and, 

 as a result, is probably as a whole in very little better con- 



