268 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



XXV, page 65, 1888, Mr. J. J. Walker reported that he 

 found this insect in great abundance in southern Spain, near 

 the village of Los Barrios. In a work on Injurious In- 

 sects," hy Theodore Keppen, published in Eussian and trans- 

 lated for me by Dr. F. B. Stephenson, U. S» N., it is stated 

 that this insect occurs in the central and southern parts of 

 Russia, in the Caucasus and all southern Siberia, but it does 

 not occur in the vicinity of St. Petersburg. He further states 

 that, according to Xolken, it does not appear in the Baltic 

 Provinces, but has been found occasionally in Livonia, and, 

 on the authority of Albrecht, it is very common in the 

 vicinity of Moscow. Romanoff, in the sixth volume of his 

 Memoires sur les Lepidopteres," reports it in [N^orth China, 

 and I have in my collection three male gypsy moths from 

 Pekin, China, received from Dr. O. Staudinger. In a letter 

 from Dr. Ritzema-Boz of Holland, dated Sept. 3, 1895, he 

 writes, **This insect is common in Holland and also in all 

 western Europe." 



The GrYPSY Moth in England. 



The earliest information that I have found of the presence 

 of the gypsy moth in England, is given by Wilkes, in his 

 work entitled Twelve New Designs of English Butterflies," 

 published in London in 1741-42, with twelve plates, but with- 

 out text. Plate X, Fig. 2, represents the insect under the 

 name ''The Gipsey Moth." 



Harris described it in his '' Aurelian's Pocket Companion," 

 published hi 1775. Donovan, in his ''Xatural History of 

 British Insects," Vol. Y, published in 1796, figures this insect 

 on Plate CLXIII, and describes it on pages 67-69, calling 

 it the " Gipsey Moth." In his account he says : "That the 

 Phalena Dispar was not uncommonly scarce about fifteen 

 years ago, is evident from this circumstance, few collections 

 of British insects that were in the hands of eminent collec- 

 tors are without an English specimen, which was procured 

 about that time." From his further account we infer that 

 he considered it a rare insect in England. Haworth, in his 

 "Lepidoptera Britannica," page 88, published in 1803, calls 

 it Boinbyx disparus, and for a common name "The Gipsy," 

 and says it is very rare. Salisbury, in his "Hints to Pro- 



