80 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



Department of Agriculture, examined the infested region 

 and inspected the work. These gentlemen gave the com- 

 mittee the benefit of their criticism and advice in the field, 

 and Professors Perkins, Harvey and Comstock made wi'itten 

 reports to the committee. (See Appendix E.) 



Mr. Howard, later, in his annual address before the sixth 

 annual meeting of the Association of Economic Entomolo- 

 gists, of which he was president, gave his impressions and 

 opinions of the work. (See Appendix E.) 



During the summer the experiment in trapping male 

 moths was tried on a larger scale than in 1893. While many 

 moths were destroyed, the results as a whole were not suc- 

 cessful enough to warrant the adoption of the method in 

 field work. Arsenate of lead (first experimented with in 

 1893) was used in spraying to a limited extent during the 

 spring. While more efiective than Paris green, it was 

 determined that it could not be depended upon to exter- 

 minate. 



The fall inspection in Boston revealed the presence of 

 moths in three sections of the city not before known to be 

 infested — Roxbury, Dorchester and the city proper. One 

 colony was found in each section. Two of them had been 

 established evidently for several years, but the demands of 

 the work elsewhere had hitherto prevented an inspection of 

 this large territory. 



The inspection of towns which had been apparently cleared 

 in 1893 revealed a few egg-clusters or other forms of the 

 moth in all of them. A carefal search of a portion of the 

 unexplored wooded region revealed a number of small col' 

 onies in the Lynnfield woods. With this exception very 

 few moths were found in any of these towns. The discovery* 

 of the moths in these towns emphasized the necessity of 

 keeping them under surveillance for a few years after they 

 had been apparently cleared and as long as there were moths 

 in any of the adjacent towns. 



The discovery of the moths in the Lynnfield woods verified 

 the prediction which the committee made in 1893, of the 

 probability of the moth's existence in the wooded region, and 

 showed the necessity of a sufficient appropriation to thor- 

 oughly search the woodland. The committee in its report 



