276 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



every species of tree, and, as it is as common as voracious, 

 it often causes great damage to orchards of fiiiit ti'ees as well 

 as in the parks and forests, and, together with other cater- 

 pillars, often completely defoliates them." This same author, 

 in his ''Histoire Naturelle,"yol. lY, page 256, states that in 

 1823 the trees in the forest of Senart in Fontainebleau were 

 entirely defoliated by the gypsy moth, so that the trees were 

 as bare as in winter. Finding nothing further to devour, 

 the caterpillars crawled over the ground in all directions, 

 seeking food. M. Daudeville, writing in the "Annales de 

 la Societe d'Horticulture de Paris," Yol. HI, page 98, 1828, 

 after referring to this caterpillar and the descriptions that 

 had been given of it, said that the pest extended from the 

 west to the north-east of the city of Saint Quentin, for a 

 distance of more than sixty miles, and had completely dev- 

 astated the trees, so that they were entirely bare. These 

 insatiable insects not only devoured the buds, leaves and 

 flowers, but even the small twigs of fruit trees. For three 

 years, in an orchard of three hundred apple trees, they had 

 not left a leaf intact, and the gradual decay and death of 

 several of the trees were attributed to these insects. In the 

 same journal it was stated that Yiscount Hericart of Thury, 

 in a journey which he had just completed, observed that the 

 apple trees in the departments of Calvados, the Eure, Eure- 

 et-Loir, the Seine-Inferieur, Seine-et-Oise, the Oise, the 

 Somme and the Aisne were entirely ravaged by this insect. 



Mons. X. Joly, in the " Revue Zoologique," Yol. Y, page 

 115, 1812, says that during the years 1837, 1838 and 1839, 

 there appeared in the forests around Toulouse in France an 

 innumerable quantity of the gypsy moth. The caterpillars 

 of this insect attacked the oaks with such avidity as to 

 strip them completeh^ of their foliage, so that after the first 

 onslaught the trees appeared as they do in winter. The 

 caterpillars were so numerous that persons passing through 

 the woods could hear them eating, and might easily believe 

 themselves in the midst of a menagerie. These devastating 

 insects occupied an area of more than twenty-five square 

 leagues.* On their approach to Toulouse they attacked 



* An area nearly as large as the infested territory in Massachusetts, 



