18 



DANGER OF SPREAD OF GIPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. 



cars may have been sidetracked near an infested place long enough to permit laying 

 of the eggs upon them. ^ 



It is by these methods that the comparatively rapid spread of the insect previously 

 noticed, during the years 1900-1905, is to be explained. 



Damage to Plants. 



The larva of 'the gipsy moth feeds upon the foliage of practically all orchard ti«eB, 

 all shade and ornamental trees, all out-of-door shrubs, and all forest trees. Not only 

 are the deciduous forest trees stripped, but the coniferous trees as well. In June and 

 July patches of forests in the infested territory are stripped of every green leaf and 

 the trees appear as bare as in winter. After several such consecutive strippings, 

 deciduous forest and shade trees are killed, but with a coniferous tree, such as a pine, 

 hemlock, or spruce, one complete stripping will cause death. It is this fact which 

 makes the gipsy moth so much more serious a pest than the brown-tail moth, and 

 the loss which will result from its spread into northern New England will be very 

 great, owing to the enormous coniferous forest interests in that part of the country. 



In cities and towns the insect does damage not only by destroying all vegetation 

 but by swarming in numbers upon and about houses, frequently entering them. It 



has been the experi- 

 ence in eastern Mas- 

 sachusetts that where 

 a locality becomes 

 thoroughly infested 

 the value of real es- 

 tate rapidly depreci- 

 ates, and it becomes a 

 matter of diflSculty to 

 rent or sell property. 

 Among its food 

 plants the gipsy moth 

 caterpillar seems to 

 prefer apple, white 

 oak, red oak, willow, 

 and elm, but those who have studied it most carefully in Massachusetts say that 

 it will on occasion devour aknost every useful grass, plant, flower, shrub, vine, bush, 

 garden, or field crop that grows in the State. 



THE BBOWN-TAII, MOTH. 



The brown-tail moth ( Euproctis chrysorrhma L.) was imported by 

 a florist in Somerville, a suburb of Boston, about 20 years ago, 

 probably on roses from Holland or France. Its presence was not 

 discovered until 1897, when it had already gained such headway that 

 extermination was out of the question. Since 1907 it has rapidly 

 spread, and its range now includes much of the coastal area of New 

 England, including eastern Rhode Island, the eastern half of Massa^ 

 chusetts, the eastern half of New Hampshire, and the southern half 

 of Maine. Both sexes are strong fliers, and the prevailing winds dur- 

 ing the flying season (July) have carried the insect northward and 

 eastward, rather than southward and westward. Moths of this 

 species have been taken as far away from Boston as St. Johns, New 

 Brunswick. 



453 



Fio. 3.— Pupa of the gipsy moth. Natural size. (From Insect Life > 



