No. 4.] THE GYPSY MOTH. 243 



Howard as refers to this work are printed in the Appendix 

 to this report. 



The committee has had the advice of Prof. C. H. Fernald, 

 entomoloo^ist of the State Board of A2;riculture and of the 

 committee throughout the year, and the experimental work 

 has been under liis immediate direction and 8U})ervision. 

 The field work has been managed by Director E. H. For- 

 bush, who has had charge of it since the Board of Agricult- 

 ure assumed the direction by act of the Legishiture in 

 1891. A report upon the scientific facts ascertained and 

 the history of the gypsy moth in Europe and America is 

 being prepared under authority of the resolve which pro- 

 vided for the continuance of the work in 1894 ; and the 

 committee recommends that an appropriation be made for 

 printing the same, as it will be a work of great interest and 

 value to the public at large, as well as to entomologists. 



In view of the fact that a large appropriation is recom- 

 mended if the intent and purpose of the statute are to be 

 carried out, it is proper to inquire whether extermination 

 is possible under the present known conditions. It has been 

 fully proved that the moth can be exterminated, not only 

 from limited localities, but from considerable areas. If 

 ample appropriations can be secured and the methods which 

 have proved successful in these instances can be carried out 

 over the whole region for a few years, it is quite evident 

 that the moth (providing it is confined to the region known 

 to be infested) can be exterminated. 



In order to secure extermination, each colony must first be 

 found by a careful inspection of the entire region which is 

 known to have been infested, — a region over two hundred 

 square miles in extent. In order to guard against the spread 

 of the moth and to give positive evidence that the limits of 

 its dissemination have been found, we must examine sur- 

 rounding towns covering at least two hundred square miles 

 more. Each colony found in the egg-form must first be 

 cleared of eggs by carefully searching for and destroying all 

 that can be found. The infested trees must have the loose 

 bark removed by scraping, all dead limbs must be cut, the 

 cavities filled, the undergrowth cut and burned and even 

 the dead leaves on the ground destroyed. In order to 



