DISTRIBUTION^ BY MAN. 



103 



and fertile eggs result. There were many ways in which 

 the regular traffic with towns round about was kept up to or 

 through the infested region. Florists and nurserymen Avere 

 constantly sending plants to all parts of the region and to 

 Boston. Truck farmers' teams hauled loads of produce to 

 Boston and returned with loads of manure. Expressmen 

 made their regular trips ; butchers, bakers, peddlers and 

 milkmen daily went their rounds, and the premises of many 

 of these people who were constantly driving about the 

 infested region or through it became infested. During the 

 summer there was much carriage driving through the in- 

 fested district, especially along the North Shore, and this 

 also served to distribute the moth to some extent. In addi- 

 tion to the transportation of the moth in its various forms by 

 means of vehicles there were other means of distribution 

 more strictly local. The caterpillars were carried about to 

 some extent on the clothing of pedestrians and on the backs 

 of cattle, goats, dogs and other animals. 



While the spread of the moth has been mainly due to the 

 transportation of the caterpillars, the eggs of the creature 

 were also carried about in various ways. Wood was cut 

 from infested trees and carried with eggs upon it from one 

 town to another. Packing cases and barrels left under in- 

 fested trees are sometimes selected by the female moth as 

 receptacles in which to deposit her eggs. Barrels and cases 

 which had been exposed to such infestation were not only 

 shipped about through the infested region but were some- 

 times sent to a considerable distance outside. If an eo'o- 

 cluster laid on an article thus shipped escaped destruction en 

 route, there would be danger of the seed of a new colony 

 being planted at the article's place of destination. 



Instances of .Distribution by Man. 

 It was learned in 1891 that the area occupied by the moth 

 was practically included within the boundaries of thirty town- 

 ships. Since that time it has been found outside of this 

 boundary in a few isolated cases only, each of which was 

 accounted for by the existence of driving or teaming from 

 the infested district. The moth had reached these places 

 during the few years previous to 1891, when it was most 



