3H 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



public notice which led to the concerted action for 

 its destruction. The first grant was one of /6o, an 

 amount then thought sufficient to cope with these 

 little pests. This did not nearly represent the total 

 spent, for added to it were the sums expended by 

 individuals on their own shade trees. Men were 

 employed all through the following winter to 

 scrape off and destroy the egg clusters which 

 thickly hung on the trees. This modest sum was 

 found to be useless, for since that period, or, more 

 correctly, during the past nine years, no less than 

 the immense total of ^150,000 has been expended, 

 with the result that the pest is slowly but surely 

 increasing its radius of occupation. 



As in Europe, the gipsy moth in Massachusetts 

 produces but one generation each year. Each 

 female, however, deposits from 400 to 500 eggs, 

 which are attached in clusters to any convenient 

 surface, such as the twigs and trunks of trees, to 

 stones, or to logs lying within easy reach of the 

 food trees. Unfortunately, these clusters are 

 often placed in crevices, and are frequently over- 

 looked by those employed in finding and destroy- 

 ing them. They remain in the egg state for nine 

 or ten months, the larvae hatching at intervals 

 from the end of April to the middle of June. In 

 the caterpillar stage they feed for about ten weeks, 

 during which time all the mischief is done. They 

 are most active at night, and appear to feed in 

 America on nearly every native and introduced 

 plant of importance. 



The Economic Entomological Department of 

 the United States is so well organized, and so 

 experienced in dealing with the great damage done 

 by insect pests, that we have no doubt every effort 

 is being made to control this serious visitation. 

 The use of chemical insecticides is there so well 

 understood that enormous quantities of the 

 caterpillars are killed by spraying the trees with 

 arsenical solutions. This spraying is accomplished 

 by steam-engines especially constructed for the 

 purpose, and by their means the highest branches 

 of the tallest trees are reached. In the forest 

 lands the underwood is cut away and is burned 

 over the ground. Gangs of men are employed in 

 searching all over the trees and the bushes for the 

 egg clusters ; this seems to be one of the most 

 successful means of reducing the numbers of these 

 destructive caterpillars. Burlap bands are placed 

 round the tree trunks, which intercept the cater- 

 pillars from returning up the tree trunks when 

 they accidentally fall to the ground, or are 

 hatched there. These bands are covered with 

 a viscid sticky substance, such as tar or fish oil. 

 In destroying the eggs the burning must be con- 

 ducted with fierce heat, for they easily resist a 

 passing Same, in consequence of the hairy covering 

 of the egg mass being an excellent non-conductor 

 of heat. Thus an ordinary bush fire appears to 



do them little or no harm. The most effective 

 destroyer of the egg masses appears to be to 

 thoroughly paint each egg mass with creosote oil. 

 It is quite surprising how expert become the men 

 who are trained in the discovery of eggs. They will 

 see them instantly, even at the tops of trees, where 

 they would be quite unnoticed by the uninitiated. 



Although such a large sum has been spent upon 

 fighting this insect, we imagine very much more 

 has yet to be done ; and it appears probable that 

 now the gipsy moth has become so thoroughly accli- 

 matized, it will spread further on the North American 

 continent, in spite of all efforts for its restraint. 



This species has caused considerable trouble in 

 some parts of Western and Central Europe, where 

 it is abundant. In Britain it used to occur in the 

 eastern counties, but it is doubtful whether any 

 native specimens have been taken in this country 

 for nearly half a century. For some reason, 

 probably climatic, it disappeared, and ento- 

 mologists who pride themselves upon having 

 only British specimens of butterflies or moths in 

 their collections will readily pay as much as £1 for 

 each well authenticated individual which is known 

 to have been taken here by some old collector in 

 times gone by. 



Ardent collectors have often tried to re-establish 

 the species in Britain by the introduction of 

 continental European eggs or caterpillars ; but 

 fortunately have hitherto failed in the attempt. 

 The expert English lepidopterist will readily point 

 out the difference between Continental examples of 

 the gipsy moths and those of the old English race 

 which has disappeared. These were larger, more 

 robust, and of a different tint in coloration. 



Destruction of Earthworms in Essex. — The 

 great storm of November 2Sth last on the Essex 

 coast did immense damage by bursting sea-walls 

 and flooding upwards of 50,000 acres of agricultural 

 land. The cost of repairs of these banks is not the 

 only loss. In a report which has been prepared 

 by Mr. T. S. Dymond, Staff Lecturer on Chemistry 

 to the Essex Technical Instruction Committee, on 

 the results of the inundation of sea- water, he states 

 that the ordinary percentage of salt in the soil is 

 ■01 per cent, but on the flooded land it has risen 

 to '20 per cent. This amount of salt is equal to 

 two tons per acre. Some crops have suffered 

 severely, peas and tares especially, and wheat 

 has likewise died off, but to a lesser extent. The 

 most serious result of the flood of salt water has 

 been the killing of the earthworms, which were 

 found dead in multitudes on the surface of the fields 

 when the water subsided. Sea-gulls greedily fed 

 upon them, and soon carried them away. These 

 worms will be a great loss to the farmers, for they 

 assist largely in promoting the drainage of the 

 fields and relieving their sodden condition. 



