GIPSY MOTH WOKK IN NEW ENGLAND. 9 



the New England States. Fifty-six colonies were liberated in 48 

 towns, a total of over 76,000 cocoons being placed in the field. During 

 the winter of 1913-14 collections of brown-tail moth webs were made 

 in 72 towns scattered over the infested area in New England. The 

 recovery of the parasite indicates that it has become established as 

 far north as Monson, Me. ; west as far as North Adams, Mass. ; and 

 south as far as Waterford, Conn. About 2,500 cocoons were liber- 

 ated in the spring of 1914 in three of the Connecticut Valley towns 

 in Vermont. Our work on this species was supplemented by cooper- 

 ative work which was carried on by Prof. W. C. O'Kane, State ento- 

 mologist of New Hampshire. From collections made by his assistants 

 he was able to colonize Apanteles in 11 towns, 1,000 specimens being 

 put in most of these colonies. Similar work is carried on in coopera- 

 tion with the gipsy-moth laboratory by Maj. E. E. Philbrook, State 

 moth superintendent of Maine, but a definite statement of the num- 

 ber of colonies liberated can not be given at this time. An arrange- 

 ment was made during the fall of 1913 to continue cooperative 

 parasite work between the laboratory and the entomologist of the 

 Dominion of Canada, Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt. In the spring of 

 1914 he detailed one of his assistants, Mr. L. S. McLaine, to take up 

 work in Massachusetts, using the gipsy moth laboratory as head- 

 quarters. Mr. McLaine secured several assistants, and as a result of 

 his efforts about 1,000 Apanteles cocoons were sent to the brown-tail 

 moth infested area in New Brunswick for the purpose of colonizing 

 the species. Similar efforts were made the previous year and colonies 

 were liberated in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and in several of 

 these places the species survived the winter of 1913. (PL V.) In 

 general it should be said that the winter of 1913-14 resulted in a 

 marked decrease in the abundance of Apanteles. An unusually 

 high mortality of caterpillars in the brown-tail webs accounts for this 

 decrease. The exact cause of the mortality of the brown-tail moth 

 caterpillars can not be definitely stated, but it seems to be attributable 

 to an unusually severe winter, the presence to a greater or less extent 

 of internal parasites in the caterpillars, and the effects of the brown- 

 tail fungus, a disease which also affects the larvae of this species. 



The parasitism of the gipsy moth by Apanteles lacteicolor was not 

 nearly as high in 1914 as during the previous year, and was of course 

 a direct result of the failure of the brown-tail moth caterpillars to 

 bring through the first generation of the parasite. 



During the summer of 1913 Compsilura concinnata was recovered 

 from 54 new towns. Eleven of these were in Maine, 14 in New 

 Hampshire, and 29 in Massachusetts. In the summer of 1914 this 

 insect was found in 44 new towns — 2 in Maine, 21 in New Hampshire, 

 20 in Massachusetts, and 1 in Rhode Island. It is possible that 

 82942°— Bull. 204—15 2 



