May 25, 1899] 
NATURE 
81 
armies sufficient to blacken the streets, in search of fresh | 
provender. A terrible account of the ravages of the 
caterpillars is given by those who witnessed them, and 
the town became thoroughly alarmed. Specimens of the 
insect were sent to the Agricultural Experiment Station 
at Amherst, Massachusetts, where it was identified by 
Mrs. C. H. Fernald and her son, in the absence of 
Prof. Fernald, who happened to be travelling in Europe 
appointed entomological adviser to the Committee. 
During the first six weeks of the year, three-quarters of a 
million egg-clusters were destroyed, estimated to contain 
from three to five hundred millions of eggs.’ During the 
fine season, the trees were sprayed, and in autumn egg- 
gathering again commenced. Seventy-five thousand 
dollars were spent this year, and, though the insect was 
not exterminated, its numbers were seriously reduced. 
By this time, no less than thirty town- 
ships were found to be infested with 
the insect. 
Year by year the campaign against 
the moth has been continued on 
similar lines, though impeded by 
frequent delays in the appropriation 
grants, as well as by the insufficiency 
of the amounts, and in 1896 Mr. 
E. H. Forbush (the field director in 
the work of destroying the Gipsy 
Moth) and Prof. Fernald published 
a volume of 600 pages on the insect 
and its history, from which much of 
the information in the present paper 
is derived. We have also just re- 
ceived the “Report of the State 
Board of Agriculture on the Work 
of Extermination of the Gypsy Moth,” 
presented to the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the Commonwealth 
Fic. 2.—Destroying the eggs of the Gipsy Moth in the Middlesex Fells Reservation. 
at the time. On his return, he at once visited Medford, 
and recommended spraying all infested trees with Paris 
Green, an arsenical preparation which had previously 
been employed with great success in checking the 
ravages of the Colorado Potato Beetle. A pamphlet 
containing descriptions and figures of the insect in all its 
stages, with hints for its destruction, was printed and 
largely circulated ; and the veteran agricultural entomo- 
logist, Prof. C. V. Riley, gave it as his 
opinion that if Prof. Fernald’s recom- 
of Massachusetts on January 1, 1898, 
and containing an account of the 
work of the Committee during 1897. 
From this we learn that the Com- 
mittee applied for a grant of 200,000 dollars for the 
work of that year, and the Legislature promptly 
granted them three-quarters of the amount. Much 
work was done (Figs. 2 and 3), and infested districts 
were cleared as far as the amount would permit, but 
the Committee’s recommendation was for ‘“‘ an appropri- 
ation of not less than 200,000 dollars a year for a term of 
not less than five years, and then an appropriation of not 
mendations were carried out at all 
strictly, there was little fear of the 
insect spreading, and that it might be 
entirely exterminated with the ex- 
penditure of a little time and money. 
In March 1890 a Commission was 
appointed with full authority to take 
any necessary measures for the de- 
struction of the pest, and a sum of 
25,000 dollars was placed at the dis- 
posal of the Commissioners, any 
person convicted of knowingly spread- 
ing the insect, or interfering with the 
work of the Commissioners, being 
rendered liable to heavy fines or im- 
prisonment. 
As soon as the Commissioners had 
made a preliminary investigation, it 
was discovered that the infested area 
was far larger than had been sup- 
posed, and that the grant of 25,000 
dollars was wholly insufficient. Large 
quantities of eggs were destroyed, 
brushwood cleared, and trees sprayed with Paris Green, 
while the principal roads leading from the infested dis- 
trict were guarded by policemen, whose duty was to see 
that caterpillars should not be carried about by passing 
vehicles. 
In 1891, a fresh Commission was appointed, under the 
auspices of several of the most eminent American ento- 
mologists, and Prof. C. H. Fernald was subsequently | 
NO. 1543, VOL. 60] 
Fic. 
| 
3.—Destroying masses of Gipsy Moth eggs on rocks and ledges. 
less than 100,000 dollars a year for a term of not less 
than five years. After this, an appropriation of perhaps 
15,000 dollars a year for a period of five years will be 
required.” On this, Prof. Fernald remarks: “The first 
five years, with the full appropriation of 200,000 dollars 
a year, will reduce the territory to such an extent that 
1 These eggs are laid in clusters and covered with down from the 
abdomen of the female. 
