32 



dred parasites and a score or more insectivorous birds. In other words, 

 the natural cheeks on its increase were left behind, and for years it has 

 occupied a rank of first magnitude as an insect pest in Massachusetts. 

 Its ravages the past year in the metropolitan district have been most 

 severe, causing an immense amount of damage in park and woodland 

 areas, and even depreciating the value of real estate in the worst 

 afflicted sections. 



The Gypsy Moth. 

 Now that the damage by the moth has again reached such magnitude, 

 a little ancient, but hitherto uu])ublished, history will be of interest. 

 Soon after the civil war, as is well known, there lived in the Glenwood 

 district of Medford Prof. Leopold Trouvelot, a French astronomer and 

 naturalist. In connection with his experiments on various silkworms 



he introduced the notorious gypsy moth, 

 and the same accidentally escaped from 

 his care. Professor Trouvelot could never 

 be induced, after his return to France, to 

 commit himself in writing as to the man- 

 ner in which the moth escaped. Some 

 years ago, however, the late Alvin Clark of 

 Cambridge visited him at the observatory 

 at Meudoii, France, and learned from him 

 that the gypsy moth caterpillars were con- 

 fined by netting on shrubs in his yard, that 

 the nettings became broken by a wind 

 storm and the caterpillars thus scattered 

 and commenced their sjiread. This un- 

 doubtedly happened in the early summer 

 of 1868, for an obscure note by Walsh- 

 Riley in volume 1, number 3, " American 

 Entomologist," November, 1868, gives an 

 account of the event Other notes by Riley 

 in his Missouri report for 1870 and in volume 2, "American Entomolo- 

 gist," 1870, show that Trouvelot must have directly or indirectlj- com- 

 municated to him the fact of the moth's escape. In other words, 

 Trouvelot, recognizing the possible danger from the moth, did his duty in 

 calling public attention to it How unfortunate that this warning was 

 ignored ! 



The gradual spread of the moth up to the caterpillar plague of 1888-89 

 is a matter of record. Equally well known is the work of the gypsy 

 moth committee of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, which linally 

 succeeded in reducing the numbers of the insect to a minimum and thor- 

 oughly controlling the pest Since the abandonment of the State work 

 in the early part of the year 1900 the moth has had ample opportunity 

 to increase to a point where it is to-day more numerous, and occupying 

 a larger area in this State, than ever before. Such severe outbreaks of 

 this insect as we have witnessed during the past two years are inevitably 

 accompanied by a great s])reading of the moth into non-infested territory. 



Fig. 1. Egg cluster of gypsy moth. 



