50 PARASITES OF GIPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. 



and sleeping rooms, and even made homes uninhabitable * * *. Real estate in 

 the worst-infested districts underwent a notable depreciation in value. Worst of all, 

 pines and other conifers — altogether too scarce in eastern Massachusetts — were killed 

 outright by the gipsy-moth caterpillars, while shade trees and orchards were swept 

 bare of foliage. 



There was a general demand upon the State legislature and an 

 excellent bill was prepared and passed with the appropriation of 

 $300,000, $75,000 to be expended during 1905, $150,000 and any 

 unexpended balance during 1906, and $75,000 and any unexpended 

 balance during 1907, up to May 1, 1907, inclusive. And to this 

 appropriation there was added the clause l ' for the purpose of experi- 

 menting with natural enemies for destroying the moths, $10,000 

 is additionally appropriated for each of the years 1905, 1906, and 

 1907." There was then available in the spring of 1905 the appro- 

 priation of $2,500 by the General Government and that of $10,000 

 by the State of Massachusetts for work with the natural enemies. 

 Mr. A. H. Kirkland was appointed superintendent for suppressing 

 the gipsy and brown-tail moths, by Gov. Douglas, and immediately 

 following his appointment, and with the approval of his excellency 

 the governor, went to Washington, and by arrangement with the 

 honorable the Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. James Wilson, arranged a 

 cooperation between the State and the Department of Agriculture 

 whereby the Chief of the Bureau of Entomology of the department 

 was practically placed in charge of the details of the attempt to import 

 parasites from abroad, in consultation with Mr. Kirkland. 



The reasons which influenced Mr. Kirkland in entering into this 

 cooperation between the State and the United States Department of 

 Agriculture were expressed in his first annual report (p. 117). 



At this time for more than 25 years the chief of the bureau had 

 been devoting his especial efforts to the study of the parasitic Hymen- 

 optera, and had especially interested himself in the subject of their 

 biology and host relations. He had accumulated a card catalogue 

 of more than 20,000 entries of records of the specific relations of 

 parasites to specific insects, the great majority of these being Euro- 

 pean records and covering all of the published information regarding 

 the parasites of the gipsy moth and the brown-tail moth. He also 

 had the advantage of the personal acquaintance of most of the 

 European entomologists interested in this kind of work. These 

 facts were known to Mr. Kirkland and caused his action. 



AN INVESTIGATION OF THE INTRODUCTION WORK. 



From the beginning of the work, and even before, certain citizens 

 of Boston, impressed by the claims of the State Board of Horticulture 

 of California as to the results said to have been achieved by the 

 agents of the board in the introduction of beneficial insects, urged 





