50 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



railways, or by natural bounds, such as streams and lakes. 

 Each map was accompanied by a written description of the 

 boundaries of the section which it represented. The work 

 was done, under the supervision of the director, by Mr. 

 J. O. Goodwin of Medford, an experienced engineer, well 

 acquainted with the topography of the region. It was in- 

 tended so to divide the region that each inspector or foreman 

 could be held responsible for a certain tract or section with 

 definite and well-marked boundaries. Each section in each 

 town was numbered. Each inspector, on entering the field, 

 was required to run the boundaries of the section allotted to 

 him, and mark the section number prominently with white 

 paint on fixed objects at each angle of the boundary. To 

 avoid any possible confusion of lines, each inspector was 

 also required to * ' blaze " or mark the line with white paint 

 wherever it was not otherwise easily distinguishable. When 

 this system was extended into the towns farthest from the 

 infested centre, it was not found necessary to divide such 

 towns into sections on account of the comparatively small 

 number of moth colonies found in them. They were treated, 

 therefore, as sections, and an inspector with a gang of men 

 was placed in charge of each. If, however, it was found, on 

 close inspection, that a town that had not been ** sectioned" 

 was badly infested, and would require several gangs of men, 

 it was then " sectioned." Each inspector was required occa- 

 sionally to sketch maps ; also to locate and mark infested 

 localities on section maps, and to make such additions to the 

 maps as were from time to time necessitated by the con- 

 struction of new streets or railways in the infested towns. 



Organization and Instruction of the Field Force, 

 "V^Hienever suitable men could be found they were added 

 to the force. Some of the most capable men of the force 

 of 1890 were re-employed. Others, whose previous expe- 

 rience in field study in entomology or kindred sciences had 

 fitted them for careful observation, were engaged and trained 

 to act as inspectors. 



When field operations were commenced the eggs of the 

 moth were the only living form of the pest. The men 

 were taught how to recognize and destroy them, and to 



