14 THE GYPSY MOTH. 



or four worthless trees on the premises adjacent to my own is 

 astonishing ; numbers fail to convey an adequate idea. The earth 

 seemed to be covered with them. 



In June, 1889, there were similar local outbreaks over a 

 tract extending as far as West Medford, two miles to the 

 westward, and to Edgeworth in Maiden, a mile to the east. 



THE SWARMING CATERPILLARS BECOME A SERIOUS NUISANCE. 

 The number of caterpillars that swarmed over certain 

 sections of the town during the latter part of June and most 

 of July, 1889, is almost beyond belief. Prominent citizens 

 have testified that the " worms " were so numerous that one 

 could slide on the crushed bodies on the sidewalks ; and that 

 they crowded each other off the trees and gathered in masses 

 on the ground, fences and houses, entering windows, destroy- 

 ing flowering plants in the houses, and even appearing in the 

 chambers at night. The huge, hairy, full-grown caterpillars 

 were constantly dropping upon people on the sidewalks 

 beneath the trees, while the smaller larvae, hanging by in- 

 visible threads, were swept into the eyes and upon the faces 

 and necks of passers. The myriads that were crushed under 

 foot on the sidewalks of the village gave the streets a filthy 

 and unclean appearance . Ladies passing along certain streets 

 could hardly avoid having their clothing soiled, and were 

 obliged to shake the caterpillars from their skirts. Clothes 

 hanging upon the line were stained by the larvse which 

 dropped or blew upon them from trees or buildings. In 

 the warm, still summer nights a sickening odor arose from 

 the masses of caterpillars and pupse in the woods and orchards, 

 and a constant shower of excrement fell from the trees. The 

 presence of this horde of gypsy-moth larvae had become a 

 serious nuisance, and was fast assuming the aspect of a plague. 

 The condition of affairs at this time is best shown by the 

 following extracts from statements of residents : 



The caterpillars were worst in 1887, 1888 and 1889. In the sum- 

 mer of those years a good portion of my time was occupied in fight- 

 ing the pest. The two large elms in front of our house were full 

 of caterpillars, and had not a perfect leaf. In the night-time the 

 noise of the worms eating in the trees sounded like two sticks 



