GYPSY MOTH WORK. 303 



and later perhaps egg-masses will be laid therein and escape 

 discovery. It was therefore necessary to fill these cavities so 

 as to exclude the caterpillars. In some cases this can best be 

 done by filling the opening with stones and cement, and in others 

 it is better to nail a piece of tin over the opening, fitting it around 

 the edges so that caterpillars cannot crawl under it. Wherever 

 tin was used, the metal was painted over with dark paint to 

 make it as inconspicuous as possible. In this manner cavities 

 were filled and covered in 130 trees during the year. 



Plate XII shows a tree that has been scraped and pruned and 

 the 'cavities filled. 



Banding Trees with Burlap. 



Burlap bands were placed around the trunks or stems of trees 

 as described in the report for last year, page 238, but the bands 

 were applied to trees over a much larger area than was covered 

 last year, nearly ten times as many bands being used. All trees 

 were banded through the streets and back yards of the village 

 and as far north as the cemetery road from the Wequetequock 

 River west to Sheridan's Comer, on the Mystic road. All trees 

 for a distance of about two hundred yards north of the cemetery 

 road, including three apple orchards, were also banded, but no 

 caterpillars were found there. 



During July caterpillars were found on maple trees along the 

 drive leading from the Mystic road to Walnut Grove. All trees 

 in this vicinity were banded at once, about eight hundred being 

 so treated. 



Altogether about thirteen thousand trees were banded in 1907. 

 The appearance of banded trees is shown on Plate XI and 

 the method of applying the bands may be seen on Plate X, b. 

 The first banding was done about May 25th. Burlap (eight 

 ounce weight) was purchased from Boston, all cut into ten inch 

 strips ready for use. In the infested area these bands were 

 examined each day through the caterpillar season; outside this 

 area they were turned every second day, and later twice a week. 



Destroying the Caterpillars. 



The territory was divided into sections, and each man engaged 

 in "examining bands was given a section of banded trees. Notes 

 were kept each day of all caterpillars found and of the locality 



