59 



pointed out by Professor Kiley, namely, tlie inability of the larvrp to 

 develop successfully ill any numbers on mature and hardened foliaf^e. 

 He said that the explanation of the se(tond brood of beetles reported 

 by Dr. Lintner as occurring in Albany, if true, was undoubtedly due 

 to the presence of comparatively new and fresh foliage. 



AFTEIiXOOX SESSIOX, A UGUST 2S, 189o. 



Professor Fernald opened the discussion on the gypsy moth again with 

 an extended account of the operations up to the present time, illustrat- 

 ing his remarks with specimens and photographs. He has furnished 

 the following stenographic report of his remarks: 



NOTES ON THE GYPSY MOTH IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



By C. II. Ff:RXALi), Amherst. Mass. 

 [Stenograpliic report.] 



It may be needless for me to tell you that the gypsy moth was intro- 

 duced into this country about twenty-six j'ears ago by Mr. Trouvelot, 

 living in Medford. He was, as you know, a celebrated astronomer, and 

 he had an idea of experimenting with this and other silk-producing 

 insects with a view of making silk profitably from them. I wrote to 

 him to know how this insect escaped from him, but received no reply. 

 I was informed a short time ago that a gentleman was with Mr. Trou- 

 velot in Paris not long before his death, and Mr. Trouvelot told him that 

 he brought the eggs over from France, and when they hatched he put 

 them on a shrub near his house and covered them with a mosquito net, 

 and that a storm came up in the night and tore the net to such an 

 extent that the insects escaped. I suppose that this is the way that the 

 insect escaped, although we have another story. The insect became 

 quite abundant and spread from Medford rapidly, attracting a great 

 deal of attention in the immediate vicinity, but the people lost sight of 

 the fact that it was a foreign species and took no measures to rid them- 

 selves beyond what they could do personally. They tell us of the abun- 

 dance of these insects 5 how they ate all the foliage from the trees, and 

 continued this until the trees died. One gentleman says they spread 

 over the side of his house so that it was impossible to tell the color 

 of the paint: another, that when he started to his i)lace of business it 

 was impossible to step anywhere on the street without crushing the 

 caterpillars. 



I have a box here containing specimens of the gyiisy moth in its dif- 

 ferent stages — an eg^^ cluster; two eggs, separated: the ditfeient molts 

 of the larva; pupa, male and female: male and female moths, spread 

 and unspread. These boxes were distributed about the State and to 

 experiment stations in adjoining States for the purpose of instruction. 

 Many insects have been sent in order to ascertain whether they were 

 the gypsy moth or not, and it seemed desirable to inform tlie i)eoi>le as 

 widely as possible, so they woidd know what the gy])sy moth is. and 

 this was one of tlie methods used to give tiie desired information. 



