No. 4.] THE GYPSY MOTH. 343 



Woburn. 

 In the residential and business parts of Woburn only a few 

 scattering caterpillars were found here and there during the 

 summer of 1897, with the exception of two localities, where 

 new colonies were discovered in the spring about the time 

 the eggs were hatching. These colonies were thoroughly 

 treated by fire and followed up by burlapping. Another 

 season they will require only careful watching and burlap- 

 ping. On account of the discovery of these colonies, the 

 number of caterpillars taken in Woburn this year was prac- 

 tically the same as the number taken last year. In the wood- 

 land, in the south-west corner of the city, where the largest 

 colonies of the moth had been found in past years, the cut- 

 ting and burning of infested wood and brush have been ex- 

 tended to the Winchester line. No moths have been found 

 on this tract since. Two wood lots near the Lexington line 

 have also been cut, and no doubt this and other measures 

 will eventually result in the extermination of the moth in 

 that section. The single isolated caterpillars found indicate 

 that they have been redistributed in Woburn during the past 

 summer by such means as originally infested the town. If 

 the moths can now be exterminated from the badly infested 

 centres in the inner towns, which are now reinfesting Woburn 

 and the other outer towns, there will be no difficulty in 

 clearing Woburn of the gypsy moth within a short time. 



The Increase of the Moth in the Central Woodlands. 



It becomes necessary now to revert to the history of the 

 eflbrts to exterminate the gypsy moth in former years. 



In 1892 your committee ascertained, and then duly re- 

 ported, that at least 400 acres of central woodland were 

 known to be more or less infested by the gypsy moth, and 

 asked for means sufficient to stamp out the moth from these 

 forested tracts. Furthermore, your committee predicted 

 that, in case sufficient appropriations were not granted, 

 there would be great danger that the insect might extend 

 its hold in these woodlands, with the result that it might 

 be much more difficult to secure its extirpation. Means 

 adequate for the purpose were not then nor afterwards 

 granted. 



