2 BULLETIN 204, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



general outline of the problems and investigations and the differ- 

 ent activities of the work has already been published 1 in the Journal 

 of Economic Entomology. 



During the fiscal year which ended June 30, 1914, an average of 

 275 men was employed. The greater number were engaged in 

 field operations, but a force of approximately 40 men were employed 

 on different phases of experimental projects. 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK. 



In carrying on measures for the control of any insect pest it is 

 necessary to conduct many experiments in order to determine the 

 means which are most feasible for reducing the damage. For more 

 than 20 years experiments have been carried on more or less con- 

 tinuously by the State of Massachusetts and other States to which 

 the gipsy moth has spread, as well as by the Bureau of Entomology, 

 for the purpose of perfecting field measures for holding the insect in 

 check, and from time to time improvements have been made which 

 have reduced the cost of handling infested areas. Spraying ma- 

 chinery ha,s been developed so that at the present time it is entirely 

 practical to treat large areas at a moderate cost. The banding of 

 trees with tanglefoot has largely replaced the use of burlap bands 

 and reduced the cost of this method of treatment. In fact, so much 

 work has been done along these lines that the best methods of treat- 

 ment are well understood and practiced in the areas where the gipsy 

 moth is prevalent. Minor improvements are being made from time 

 to time but in general satisfactory methods of hand suppression 

 have been adopted. 



In 1905, when the Federal gipsy-moth work was being organized, it 

 was considered very necessary and desirable to introduce the parasites 

 and natural enemies which occur in foreign countries of both the 

 gipsy moth (Porthetria dispar L.) (PI. I) and the brown-tail moth 

 (Euproctis chrysorrhoea L.) (PI. II). The idea was prevalent that 

 by securing and liberating these natural checks on the increase of 

 these species, it would be possible greatly to reduce the damage, and 

 it was hoped that the parasites would bring the pests as well under 

 control as is the case in Europe. Accordingly arrangements were 

 made by Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology, for 

 the collection of a large amount of parasitic material in various 

 European countries, and later similar arrangements were made with 

 entomologists in Japan. This work was carried on for the first five 

 years in cooperation with the State of Massachusetts. Several agents 

 of the Bureau of Entomology have been sent to Europe on different 

 occasions to investigate conditions and forward to this country as 

 large an amount of parasitized material as could be collected. For 

 two seasons this work was conducted by Mr. W. F. Fiske, who was 

 assisted in the summer of 1912 by Mr. L. H. Worthley. Various 



i Jour. Econ. Ent., v. 7, No. 1, p. 83-87, Feb., 1914. 



