REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I907 7 



marked tussock moth. It is practical to spray the trees so 

 thoroughly that even in localities where the elm leaf beetle and the 

 tussock moth caterpillars are rather abundant, there will be no 

 serious injury to the foliage, and those interested . in this work 

 should insist upon the maintenance of such a standard. 



Gipsy and brown tail moths. The work of last year in watch- 

 ing for the appearance of these insects within the borders of New 

 York State has been continued. Many caterpillars of various 

 species, all native we are happy to state, have been sgnt in by dif- 

 ferent correspondents, some fearing that they had found one or 

 the other of these pests. These fears, we are pleased to state, were 

 groundless and, so far as known to us at the present time, neither 

 of these species has obtained a foothold within our boundaries, 

 though the gipsy moth has recently been discovered at Springfield 

 and Greenfield, Mass. 



Several days in June were spent in the infested territory, investi- 

 gating in particular the recently undertaken work with parasites. 

 Thousands of these beneficial forms have been brought into this 

 country, taken to the laboratory at Saugus, reared to maturity, the 

 dangerous hyperparasites destroyed and the beneficial forms lib- 

 erated under conditions favorable to their multiplication. Our in- 

 vestigations sliowed that certain of these European enemies had 

 survived the winter and there is at least a fair prospect of consid- 

 erable benefit resulting from this systematic importation of natural 

 enemies. The situation is distinctly more encouraging than was the 

 case last year. A general campaign of repression has been con- 

 ducted most vigorously and the beneficial result therefrom is easily 

 seen in Boston and vicinity. Furthermore, the federal government, 

 through its Department of Agriculture, is cooperating with the Mas- 

 sachusetts authorities in an effort to prevent the further spread of 

 the gipsy moth in particular. This latter phase of the work consists 

 largely in keeping all highways free from caterpillars, so as to make 

 it impossible for automobiles to carry these leaf feeders into unin- 

 fested regions. The gipsy moth is being combated strenuously in 

 Rhode Island and Connecticut and there is a very strong probability 

 that the few insects in the last named state will be speedily 'ex- 

 terminated. 



Forest insects. There were two outbreaks the past season of 

 exceptional interest. The green striped maple worm, A n i s o t a 

 rubicunda Fabr. was very abundant on sugar maples in Berlin 

 and Stephentown, Rensselaer co., stripping the leaves from large 



