DISTRIBUTION BY MAN. 



105 



remains as was compatible with tlieir character, age and 

 general utility. It is probable that the moths were originally 

 carried there on the wagons which were used for this dolo- 

 rous traffic. The Cambridge almshouse was situated a few 

 rods in the rear of the tannery. The city swill was hauled 

 from all parts of Cambridge to this almshouse and was then 

 distributed for miles around to farmers and others who kept 

 hogs. These swill-takers' wagons in going and coming were 

 obliged to pass under the branches of some badly infested 

 trees that overhang the street. A tide-water stream ran 

 through the tannery yard. An inspection revealed that the 

 trees along the stream for many rods were infested. Here 

 was a secondary centre of distribution of the first magnitude. 

 Persistent efforts were made to stamp out this colony. When 

 this had been done the locality was carefully watched. As 

 the country roundabout was inspected the moths were found 

 scattered all over neighboring portions of Cambridge, Somer- 

 ville and Arlington. In 1893 a list of the persons to whose 

 places swill had been teamed was secured from Capt. M. L. 

 Eldridge, superintendent of the almshouse. This comprised 

 the names of nearly three hundred people residing in the 

 following towns : Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Brighton, 

 Burlington, Cambridge, Carlisle, Concord, Lexington, Lin- 

 coln, Medford, Somerville, Waltham, Watertown, Weston, 

 Winchester and Woburn. The places of more than fifty 

 people in the list have since been found to be infested. The 

 results of the investigation did not indicate that in all cases 

 they had become infested by the carriage of swill, for it was 

 seen that some places to which swill had been hauled during 

 tlie months when the caterpillars were numerous upon trees 

 were not infested, while others to which swill had been hauled 

 in the winter only were infested. Yet it seems probable from 

 all the data obtained from inquiry in these localities that 

 more than half the infested places had received infestation 

 from the hauling of swill from the almshouse. 



Localities in the infested district that are much visited on 

 account of their historical associations are usually found in- 

 fested, and if cleared of the moth are likely to become re- 

 infested. Many eminent men have been buried in Mount 

 Auburn Cemetery, which lies partly in Cambridge and pai'tly 



