100 THE GYPSY MOTH. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE MOTH BY MAN'S AGENCY. 



The distribution of the moth by man, and the means by 

 which it was accomplished, will be better understood if a 

 description of the territory comprised by the infested towns 

 and cities is first given. 



This region extends along the coast of Massachusetts Bay 

 from Boston harbor to the Beverly shore. North of Boston 

 a considerable portion of the land surface next to the shore 

 consists of salt marsh, penetrated here and there by tidal 

 streams like the Mystic and Saugus rivers. Nahant and 

 Marblehead Neck are bold, rocky peninsulas extending out 

 into the sea. The Salem " Great pastures," lying not far 

 from the sea, consist of rolling pasture land covered to some 

 extent with a scrubby growth of red cedars and the charac- 

 teristic barberry and other wild shrubs of the locality.. 



A long beach extends along the outer border of the salt 

 marsh from the Saugus River to the shores of Beachmont, 

 and is known locally as Crescent or Revere Beach. It is a 

 popular summer resort. High bluffs front the sea on the 

 Winthrop peninsula, and beyond them to the south is a 

 strip of gravelly shore called Winthrop Beach. A tide of 

 summer travel ebbs and flows along all these shores. 



Back from the shore in the valley of the Mystic River an 

 open and quite level country extends from the salt marsh 

 through Medford and Arlington to the Mystic lakes, where 

 the river has its source. The Charles River valley through 

 Cambridge, Watertown and Waltham consists of a beautiful 

 open country. A range of rocky hills traverses the north- 

 central portion of the infested district and extending northerly 

 and easterly from Lexington reaches the sea at Marblehead. 

 At the Marblehead shore these hills are almost treeless, but 

 in Swampscott and through Lynn, Saugus, Melrose, Maiden, 

 Medford, Stoneham, Winchester, Arlington and Lexington 

 they are more or less clothed with trees. This rocky, wooded 

 region is of no great agricultural value. Portions of it have 

 been reserved for public parks by the towns and municipali-. 

 ties. A large tract situated in Maiden, Medford, Winchester 

 and Stoneham has been taken by the State as a public forest 

 reservation. This region, which is known as the Middle- 



