THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH. 313 



THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH. 



Euproctis chrysorrhaea Linn. 



In the report of this station for 1902 (second report of state 

 entomologist), page 165, is given a brief account of the brown- 

 tail moth. The insect is also treated in Bulletin 153, issued in 

 March, 1906. Though the brown-tail moth has not yet been 

 found within the state, we may reasona,bly expect that it will 

 appear in a few years at the most. It has been a companion 

 pest of the gypsy' moth in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and 

 Maine, and in all of the states where suppression laws have been 

 enacted for the latter pest the brown-tail moth has been included. 

 The latter spreads much more rapidly, however, because the 

 female can fly, and it has a different life history. Different 

 combative measures are therefore necessary. We can exter- 

 minate the gypsy moth from small isolated areas, but not so 

 with the brown-tail, though we can hold it in check, and nature 

 supplies more effective controlling agents in the way of insect 

 and fungous parasites than in the case of the gypsy moth. Dur- 

 ing the spring and summer of 1906 thousands of caterpillars in 

 Massachusetts were killed in their nests by a fungous disease, 

 thus materially checking the peigt. This fungus, according to 

 Kirkland,* was examined by Dr. G. E. Stone, botanist of the 

 Agricultural College at Amherst, and pronounced Empu^a 

 aulicae Reichardt, a species common in Europe and often serving 

 there as an important check to the outbreaks of the brown-tail 

 moth. 



Distribution of the Brown-Tail Moth in America. 



First noticed in Someryille, Mass., about fifteen years ago, this 

 insect was supposed to be some native species, but as it increased 

 in abundance it was brought to the attention of entomologists 

 in 1897 and pronounced the brown-tail moth, a European 

 pest which had doubtless been introduced into this country by 

 accident. A special appropriation was granted the Gypsy Moth 

 Commission for fighting this insect, but all work of the com- 

 mission was discontinued in 1900 because the legislature refused 

 to grant further appropriations. Since then the brown-tail moth 



♦Second Annual Report of the Superintendent for Suppressing the 

 Gyptey and Brown-Tail Moths in Mass., p. 127. 1907. 



