124 PARASITES OF GIPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. 



Bendery, Bessarabia, Russia, June 11, 1909. 

 The season here is in full swing, but the situation causes me considerable anxiety, 

 as the whole business is so utterly different from my experience in Japan. The dam- 

 age wrought by dispar in the forests and orchards of Bessarabia this season is enormous 

 and parasite control seems to be most inefficient in checking the depredations of the 

 caterpillars. When I think of the masterly and well-ordered attack of the Japanese 

 parasites and the splendid fashion in which they wiped out the caterpillars in large 

 areas before depredation took place I am surprised by what I see here. When I left 

 Gauchesty on May 31 the forests of that district were thoroughly riddled over thousands 

 of acres, and yet I had seen no sign of insects, fungous, or bacterial attack except a 

 couple of clusters of Apan teles cocoons. * * * Dispar seemed to be having its 

 own way as fully as in America, so far as could be seen on the surface. * * * Here 

 at Bendery the season is slightly more advanced, owing to the lower altitude, and the 

 prospects of securing parasites of dispar seem better. Even here, however, the situa- 

 tion seems to me quite remarkable. I have available three extensive and very dif- 

 ferent collecting grounds. The great forest of Gerbofsky about 6 versts from Ben- 

 dery is composed almost exclusively of oaks. An immense area is covered by trees 

 of this species, forming magnificent groves of fine trees 80 to 100 years old. Thousands 

 of these great trees are completely defoliated, so that no sign of foliage remains. In 

 the same forest are groves of young trees of the same kind, also greatly damaged. 

 Examining the myriads of caterpillars in the field, I have found no sign of parasite 

 attack or of fungous disease except the work of Apanteles. * * * The percentage 

 of attack by Apanteles is so small that rearing in trays is of little practical importance. 

 One would have to have billions of caterpillars to do any good. Collecting in the 

 field is very difficult, as the caterpillars creep into crevices or suspend themselves 

 to branches at some height from the ground, where they are hard to reach. No sign 

 of bacterial disease has appeared in this area, nor have I seen any evidence of tachinid 

 attack in the field or in my rearing trays. Another great forest of about 500 acres is 

 at Kitzkany, about 7 versts from Bendery on the banks of the Dniester, a low damp 

 situation. This forest has no oaks but is much mixed. The principal tree is Populus 

 nigra, but there are many other trees, as Ulmus, Acer, Salix, etc. Here again the 

 damage is tremendous, with almost no sign of parasite attack. Prolonged search 

 yielded a few cocoons of Apanteles. On the other hand, thousands of the older cater- 

 pillars were found in the pendulous condition so characteristic of bacterial attack. 

 The third condition I found in the numerous orchards adjacent to both of these for- 

 ested areas. These orchards have been almost overwhelmed by dispar. The more 

 progressive peasants have protected their trees by rings of axle grease or by strips of 

 cotton wool, but others have done nothing and the trees are quite stripped. * * * 

 The sight of a tree covered with hundreds of dead caterpillars bearing clusters of 

 Apanteles cocoons such as I saw in Japan seems not to be hoped for. 



Kief, June 26, 1909. 

 From what I can see in the field and from what I can gather from Prof. Pospielow, 

 dispar was almost exterminated in this district last year through the activity of the 

 parasites. Only a few isolated colonies seem to have survived, the most important 

 of these being at Mishighari, a small place on the river about two hours by steamer 

 from Kief. In this place, which is perhaps 100 acres in extent, the trees are plas- 

 tered with cocoons of Apanteles fulvipes. The attack of the parasite was so thorough 

 that the first generation seems to have been sufficient to wipe out the caterpillars, as 

 I can find no large caterpillars about the place, and a few days will doubtless witness 

 the complete wiping out of dispar. * * * Tachinids also appear to be very active, 

 as I find many eggs, but as these are laid upon caterpillars suffering from the attacks 



