3o6 CONNECTICUT EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT, I907-I908. 



Statistics. 



1906 1907 

 Egg-masses laid during preceding year, number 



destroyed 29 118* 



Egg-masses laid during same year, number destroyed 47 7o 



Caterpillars, number destroyed 10,000 2,936 



Pupae, number destroyed 47 200 



Trees banded with burlap, number of 1,300 13,000 



Funds expended by the statef $1,500.00 $4,550.00 



" " government 272.00 



Transformations of Gypsy Moth in Connecticut in 1907. 



The spring was an unusually late one, all forms of vegetation 

 being fully two weeks later than usual. Ordinarily the eggs 

 hatch soon after May ist, but a cluster placed in the breeding 

 cage did not hatch until May i8th, when 382 caterpillars had 

 emerged from it, and the first caterpillar taken from the trees 

 was found on June 8th. The first pupa of the season was found 

 on July 2Sth, and only a few had been taken August ist. The 

 pupa stage lasts from ten to fourteen days, when the adults 

 emerge. They soon mate and the females lay eggs, which hatch 

 the following May. Thus about nine months or three-fourths 

 of the year are passed by this insect in the egg stage. Cater- 

 pillars, adults and egg-masses are shown on Plate XIII. 



Men Employed in the Work. 



Throughout the year Mr. G. H. Hollister has acted as local 

 superintendent and has been given full authority to employ or 

 discharge men as he saw fit. All other men employed have been 

 residents of Stonington or vicinity. Laborers were paid $1.50 

 per day of nine hours for the time which they worked, but 

 during the summer, when most needed, they were given $9.00 

 per week as a guarantee against loss of wages on account of bad 

 weather, and reported each morning, even though stormy, as 

 some of the men could be used in sharpening and repairing tools. 

 Through the winter months Mr. Hollister and three men worked 

 scouting, cutting brush, pruning and scraping trees, but the 

 force was increased as needed, until during the caterpillar season 

 twenty men were employed. 



* Including twelve fotmd and destroyed by government scouts. 

 t These amounts are for the calendar and not for the &scal year. 



