12 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



eggs hatching in early September 1895, at Woburn, Mass., but the 

 round of life was not completed and in this northern latitude there 

 need be little fear of two generations annually. 



Food plants. These caterpillars are quite destructive because 

 of the very large number of plants on which they can thrive. They 

 will eat, without hesitation, almost all our native shrubs and trees, 

 and when hard pushed can subsist for a time at least on a number 

 of herbaceous plants. The common fruit trees, the elms, maples 

 and oaks are all eaten readily and even with the list no greater, 

 the pest would be a most serious one to control. It is particularly 

 destructive to pine, hemlock and other evergreen trees because a 

 single defoliation destroys them. It feeds on many other plants, 

 as the list of 536 species given in the exhaustive report of 1896 on 

 this insect attests. It is true that the caterpillar feeds on some 

 of these only when compelled by starvation and that it can not 

 be considered an enemy of a number of others, but after making 

 most liberal allowance for these, the list is still a very formidable 

 one. 



Natural enemies. This insect has a number of natural enemies 

 in this country, though unfortunately none of them are aggressive 

 enough to warrant placing much dependence on them. They 

 should, however, be encouraged by all possible means. About a 

 dozen native song birds, as recorded by Mr Forbush, are very 

 useful in devouring one stage or another of this moth, and about 

 29 other species feed on it to a slight extent or more largely when 

 their usual food supply is somewhat scarce. The most useful 

 birds are the yellow and black billed cuckoos, Baltimore oriole, cat- 

 bird, chickadee, blue jay, chipping sparrow, robin, red-eyed and 

 yellow-throated vireos and crow. 



A number of predaceous and parasitic insects have either been 

 reared from this species or observed preying on it, but none of 

 them are of sufficient importance to warrant special mention in 

 this connection. A determined dffort is being made by Superin- 

 tendent Kirkland in cooperation with Dr Howard of the Federal 

 Bureau of Entomology, to bring into this country natural enemies 

 of this very destructive pest, in the hope that some forms will prove 

 of considerable value in keeping this leaf feeder in subjection. 

 Nothing can be promised in the way of results, yet this line of 

 effort is sufficiently promising to warrant its being followed so far 

 as possible. 



Recommendations. Investigate anything that arouses a sus- 

 picion that it may be the gipsy moth, but be in no undue haste to 

 identify the insect. There have already been some false alarms 



