RECORD OF THE GIPSY MOTH IN ITS NATIVE HOME. 11 



STATE WORK AGAINST THE GIPSY MOTH IN MASSACHUSETTS, 



1890-1900. 



The Avork against the gipsy moth was placed in charge of a paid 

 commission of three men, appointed by the governor. At the time 

 the work was begun it was thought that only a small area was infested, 

 but on May 9, 1890, the commission reported to the governor that 

 the infested area was ^'some sixteen times as large as at first repre- 

 sented, "and requested an additional appropriation of $25,000, which 

 was granted. 



Early in 1891 the commission was abolished by the governor and an 

 unsalaried one appointed which carried on the work for a few months, 

 until a law was enacted by the legislature giving the state 'board of 

 agriculture authorit}^ to use ''all reasonable measures to prevent the 

 spreading and to secure the extermination of the Ocneria dispar or 

 gypsy moth in this Commonwealth." 



The board placed the work under the immediate direction of a 

 committee, later known as the ''Committee on gypsy moth, insects, 

 and birds," which was made up of five of its members, who served 

 without pay. Mr. E. H. Forbush, of Worcester, Mass., was appointed 

 director of the field work, and Prof. C. H. Fernald, entomologist to 

 the Massachusetts agTicultural experiment station at Amherst, was 

 given supervision of the experimental and scientific work, and ener- 

 getic measures were at once begun to exterminate the pest, and were 

 continued until February 1, 1900. 



RECORD OF THE GIPSY MOTH IN ITS NATIVE HOME. 



A perusal of the European literature concerning this insect, which 

 was thoroughly examined and the results presented in the report 

 on the gipsy moth by Forbush and Fernald, published by the Massa- 

 chusetts board of agriculture in 1896, indicates that it was a pest 

 in nearly all European countries at the time the first entomological 

 writings were published, and there is good reason to suppose that 

 even before that time much serious devastation to trees and forests 

 resulted from it, although it was probably referred to as "the plague," 

 and was believed by the inhabitants to be a scourge sent by the 

 Almighty as a penalty for their wrongdoings. Many cases are on 

 record where this insect became abundant and defoliated thousands 

 of acres of forests, as well as the fruit and shade trees and shrubs 

 in the populated regions. The hterature indicates that this moth 

 is abundant periodically and causes enormous loss throughout con- 

 tinental Europe, western Asia, and Northern Africa. It has been 

 found as far north as Stockholm and is known to occur in Algeria. 

 Slight, though not serious, infestations have been reported in Eng- 

 land, and this or a closely allied species occurs in Japan, and is said 

 to be present in sections of China. During the year 1909, Prof. 



