No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE FORESTER. 389 



Parasite Work. 



Report of Dr. L. 0. Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology, 

 Washington, D. C. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 

 Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C, Dec. 20, 1913. 



Prof. F. W. Rane, State Forester, Boston, Mass. 



Dear Professor Rane : — la accordance with your request, I take 

 pleasure in submitting a brief report upon what has happened to the 

 imported parasites of the gypsy moth and the brown-tail moth during 

 the year. 



Yours very truly, 



L. 0. Howard, 

 Chief of Bureau. 



The work on parasites and predatory enemies of the gypsy moth and 

 brown-tail moth has continued along the same Unes as during the previous 

 year, except that no attempt has been made to import additional parasites 

 this season. The material imported from Europe last year has been 

 colonized, and an effort has been made to determine the extent to which 

 the species secured have established themselves in the field. 



Owing to the fact that one of the imported egg-parasites of the gypsy 

 moth, Anastatus bifasciatus, breeds very slowly, extensive collections 

 were made during the last winter of parasitized gypsy moth egg-clusters 

 from colonies that were planted in previous years. From this material 

 it has been possible to Uberate 1,500,000 parasites of this species, and these 

 have been placed in 1,500 colonies in sections where the insect had not 

 become established. Eight hundred colonies were planted in towns 

 along the western border of infestation, and the balance was liberated 

 in a number of towns in the northern part of Massachusetts. During 

 November of this year collections were made in New Hampshire, in 

 the colonies of Anastatus that were planted a year ago, and examination 

 showed that these plantings were practically all successful, although 

 the spread has been slow. From these collections about 100,000 parasitized 

 eggs were secured and will be used for colonization in New Hampshire 

 next spring. 



Investigations have shown that another egg-parasite of the gypsy moth, 

 namely Schedius kuvanae, has become perfectly established in several 

 colonies where it had previously been planted. During the past year 

 there has been a decided increase in the abundance of this parasite, and 

 in some cases it has spread nearly a mile and a half from the Umits of its 

 last year's spread. 



The parasites attacking the caterpillars of the gypsy moth have been 

 found more abundantly than during the previous year. Compsilura 



