25 



REMEDIES IN EUROPE. 



The method of destroying this insect in Europe is to remove and 

 burn the tents in which the young caterpillars hibernate. This is done 

 during the winter months while the young caterpillars are in the tents. 



LAWS IN EUROPE. 



A law was enacted in France for the destruction of this insect as 

 early as 1734, but later it was extended so as to include the gipsy 

 moth and some other injurious species common in Europe. Belgium 

 and other European countries have also enacted similar laws requiring 

 the destruction of these insects, and when the occupants of the prem- 

 ises neglect this work at the proper time, it is done under the direction 

 of the authorities, and the expense is assessed on the owner or occu- 

 pant of the land, and collected with his usual taxes. 



INTRODUCTION INTO AMERICA. 



The brown-tail moth was first reported in this country in Somerville, 

 Mass., in the spring of 1897, and careful inquiries revealed the fact 

 that this pest had been observed by some of the residents of that 

 locality for at least five years. 



In the center of the infested region is a florist's establishment, where, 

 previous to 1890, roses and other shrubs were imported from France 

 and Holland, and it seems very probable from all the facts obtained 

 that the brown-tail moth was accidentally introduced on some of these 

 plants as early, perhaps, as 1885. 



DISTRIBUTION IN THIS COUNTRY. 



A somewhat superficial examination of the infested territory made 

 soon after learning of the presence of this insect in Massachusetts 

 showed that at that time it occurred in the greater part of Scmerville, 

 a large part of Cambridge and Everett, a small part of Medford near 

 the Somerville line, and a single colony was found in Maiden near the 

 Revere line. The area in which serious damage had been done by this 

 insect at that time was nearly circular in outline, with its center near 

 the junction of Yine street and Somerville avenue, in Somerville, with 

 a diameter of about a mile. 



The female as well as the male moths fly readily by night, but the 

 flying season is of limited duration. It was exceedingly unfortunate 

 that a severe gale of wind occurred at the height of the flying season 

 in 1897, which distributed these moths for a distance of 10 or 12 miles 

 to the north and northeast. This gale, according to the data kindly 

 furnished by Mr. J. Warren Smith, of Boston, began in the early part 

 of the night of July 12, the wind blowing steadily from the south with 

 a velocity of from 13 to 16 miles an hour. After midnight it increased 

 in velocity to 20 miles an hour at 2 a. m. (July 13); 25 miles an hour at 

 8 a. m.; 28 to 30 miles an hour at noon; 35 miles at 5 p. m., and reached 



