266 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



be an interminable job, constantly menaced with the danger of 

 the pest spreading over large areas to adjoining States, until so 

 widely disseminated as to be beyond human power to control. It 

 would seem to me to be wiser to attempt the extermination of the 

 pest while in its greatly reduced numbers by the adoption of a 

 liberal financial policy, than to drop the work and in a decade or 

 sooner have it to do all over again. 



We regret to learn (unofficially) that naturalists are breeding 

 this pest for purposes of study outside of the Commonwealth of 

 Massachusetts, in defiance of the strict laws regarding its dissem- 

 ination. 



I heai'd the committee criticised by citizens and others because 

 they would not destroy other injurious insects besides the gypsy 

 moth in the infested district. We understand this criticism to be 

 unjust, as the Legislature defined the duties of the committee 

 strictly to the suppression of this one insect, and to use the money 

 to destroy the others would be a perversion of funds. 



That it would be a wise policy for every State to have an ento- 

 mological commission, with duties as broad as the requirements of 

 economic entomology, we have no doubt. The fact that the gypsy 

 moth committee has paid strict attention to business is the reason 

 why they have in such a short time accomplished so much. 



In closing, I desire to thank the committee for the opportunity 

 offered me to study the life-history of this insect, and to become 

 familiar with the ingenious and effective methods used in coping 

 with it. I hope the committee will receive the financial support 

 from the Legislature that will enable it to succeed in this stupen- 

 dous undertaking, which does not alone interest Massachusetts, but 

 also the adjoining States and the Avhole country. 



Respectfully submitted, 



F. L. HARVEY. 



Report of Pkof. John H. Comstock, Cornell University, 



Ithaca, N. Y. 



Ithaca, N. Y., July 17, 1894. 

 Mr. William R. Sessions, Secretary of the Committee on the Exter- 

 mmatio7i of the Oypsy Moth of the State Board of Agriculture. 



Sir : — In compliance with the request of your committee, trans- 

 mitted to me through Professor Fernald, I visited the region 

 infested by the gypsy moth, and spent several days studying what 

 is being done towards the extermination of this species. During 



