UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 484 



\vf* Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology "Vvi 



Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology 



L. O. HOWARD, Chief, in cooperation with 



the Forest Service, HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester 



33H 



^^U-t- 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER. 



April 9, 1917 



CONTROL OF THE GIPSY MOTH BY FOREST 

 MANAGEMENT. 



PART I: THE GIPSY MOTH IN WOODS. 



By G. E. Clement, 

 Assistant in Forest Management. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 



Behavior of the gipsy moth in the woods 



Composition and condition of woods in in- 

 fested territory 



Feeding habits of gipsy-moth caterpillars 



Page. 

 1 



Precautions needed 10 



Application of food-plant data to individual 



species 11 



Other measures in need of attention 15 



Recommendations 16 



INTRODUCTION. 



The gipsy moth (Porthetria dispar L.) was first liberated in this 

 country in 1868 or 1869, and 20 years later, about 1888, it became a 

 very serious pest in the neighborhood in which it was liberated. 

 Since then it has continued to spread, destroying both coniferous and 

 deciduous foliage, until it is now found throughout a large part of 

 eastern New England. (See map, p. 16.) It is particularly obnox- 

 ious because it feeds heavily on the foliage of so great a variety of 

 trees and other forms of vegetation. Although many years have 

 been spent in efforts to control the insect, it is still very abundant 

 and in need of constant repression. 



Trees may be classified as shade trees, fruit trees, and forest trees. 

 Shade and fruit trees are more valuable, more accessible, and fewer 

 in numbers than forest trees, and for these reasons have received 

 much more attention than forest trees with respect to protection 

 against gipsy-moth attack. Satisfactory means of protecting the 

 first two classes of trees have been developed, but they are too expen- 

 sive to be practicable in the case of forest trees. The problem of 

 combating the gipsy moth in forests is a large one, and its solution 

 will occupy many years. 



Twenty years ago gipsy-moth caterpillars were reputed to be 

 almost omnivorous. Studies made in more recent times by the 



04360° — Bull. 484 — 17 1 



