32 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



There were some people on Cross Street who used to do nothing 

 in the way of fighting the caterpillars, and for that reason the work 

 of individuals failed to cope with the pest. (Mrs. Spinney.) 



The Plague brought to the Attention of the Public 



AT Large. 



Messrs. John Stetson, W. C. Craig, J. O. Goodwin and 

 Dr. Pearl Martin, all of Mcdford, were among the first to 

 call public attention to the ravages of the moth. Mr. Stetson 

 first noticed the larvae of the moth in 1888 at his place on 

 South Street, nearly a mile from the Trouvelot house. In 

 June, 1889, when they began to defoliate the trees in his 

 neighborhood, he took a specimen for identification to Hon. 

 Wm. E. Sessions, secretary of the State Board of Agricult- 

 ure. Mr. Sessions, being unable to identify it, advised 

 sending specimens to the Hatch Experiment Station at 

 Amherst. This was done, and the caterpillars were received 

 at the station June 27. Professor Fernald, the entomologist 

 of the station, was absent at that time in Europe, and no one 

 at the station immediately recognized the species. After a 

 thorough search through American entomological literature, 

 the conclusion was reached that the insect was foreign. 

 Recourse was then had to European works in the library of 

 the entomologist, and after a slight search through the 

 authorities, Mrs. Fernald and her son. Dr. H. T. Fernald, 

 identified the caterpillars as those of Ocneria cUspar, known 

 in England as the gypsy moth," in Germany as the 

 ' ' sponge spinner " or stem caterpillar, and in France as * * le 

 zigzag." Mr. Stetson was notified of the identification, and 

 information regarding the outbreak was immediately sent to 

 Professor Fernald. Later he observed in Germany the 

 ravages of this insect, and consulted with European ento- 

 mologists in regard to the matter. All these authorities 

 regarded the gypsy moth as a serious pest, and the opinion 

 was expressed that it would become far more destructive 

 than the potato beetle, by reason of the number of its food 

 plants.* 



In the mean time the people of Medford were becoming 

 alarmed. 



* See Bulletin of tlie Hatch Experiment Station, November, 18S9. 



