10 



territory of 359 square miles throughout an extended range of 2,224 

 square miles. Beyond the limit indicated as that of 1905 the moth 

 has probably not spread to any very great extent within the limits of 

 the State of Massachusetts. Scouting work, however, during the 

 early spring of 1906 and the autumn of the same year has indicated a 

 general spread over the New Hampshire border into the southern tier 

 of counties of that State, and recent scouting in Maine has shown the 

 establishment of the gipsy moth at several points in the southwestern 

 portion of that State. Moreover, it has been found near Stonington, 

 Conn., and over a considerable space within and about the city of 

 Providence, R. I. 



THE TEKRITORY NOW INFESTED IN THE UNITED STATES. 



The territory at oresent infested may be briefly considered by States 

 as follows: 



Massachusetts.^ — The gipsy moth has been found in Massachusetts by 

 the local State force in 138 cities and towns, which represent an area 

 of about 2,480 square miles. The most seriously infested section is a 

 group of about twenty towns just north of Boston, including a terri- 

 tory surrounded by Salem, Peabody, Lynntield, Wakefield, Stoneham, 

 Woburn, Lexington, Waltham, Watertown, and Cambridge. Within 

 this territory almost every tree is more or less infested. Thousands 

 of fruit trees and shade trees have been killed by this pest; in the 

 woodlands one can easily find blocks of from 1 to 50 acres in which 

 almost every tree is dead. During the past summer several thousand 

 acres of these woodlands were entirely denuded of foliage. The vora- 

 cious feeding of the gipsy -moth caterpillars year after year must soon 

 cause the loss of other large areas of woodland. 



Outside the badly infested area mentioned above the gipsy moth 

 occurs in less alarming numbers, until in some of the outside towns it 

 is only discovered after a most careful search. 



The territory to the south of Boston, except the city of Quincy, is 

 not known to be infested to a serious extent, although the moth has 

 been discovered south to Buzzards Bay and east to Orleans. In most 

 of the towns in this southern district there are from three or four 

 to one hundred or more colonies. While no serious damage has yet 

 resulted from the presence of the moth in this section of the State, the 

 infestations are there, and unless strenuous measures are resorted to 

 this territory will in a few years be devastated as severely as has been 

 the country to the north of Boston. 



The country to the west and north of the badly infested central 

 region, while quite seriously infested in spots, shows the moth in 

 decreasing numbers as we diverge from this center. The infestation 

 extends as far west as Westboro and Ayer and north all along the 

 New Hampshire border. 



275 



