INJURIES IN THE OLD WORLD. 277 



the willows, which they damaged much less, because of the 

 ability this tree possesses of putting on new foliage. In 

 the " Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung," Vol. IX, page 266, 

 1848, it is stated that Riegel in 1838 saw about eight acres 

 of oak woods entirely stripped of leaves by the gypsy moth. 

 Ratzeburg, in *'Die Waldverderbniss," published in 1868, 

 Vol. II, page 154, says the gypsy moth, ten years before, 

 had spread, in a space of three years, from Brandenburg to 

 the zoological gardens. On page 189 he says that the size 

 and voracity of this caterpillar (gypsy moth) and the vast 

 numbers in which they sometimes appear make the results 

 for the beech, as well as for the elm, frightful in the extreme. 

 In the zoological gardens at Berlin the beeches are said to 

 have been severely attacked. A very competent observer, 

 Dr. Gerstacker, as an eye-witness, stated that in 1852 many 

 beeches became dry and dead. In that year all the cater- 

 pillars transformed, but in 1853, not having sufficient food, 

 many died of starvation. On page 339, in speaking of the 

 ravages of difierent species of caterpillars, he says that 

 Bombyx dispar (the gypsy moth) may be mentioned first as 

 being the largest and most ravenous, and further says that 

 he knew of a devastation by which was caused the weakening 

 and death of many trees. This author states (page 185) that 

 in the great devastation which occurred in the zoological 

 gardens at Berlin, in 1851-53, these caterpillars attacked 

 not only the native but also the foreign trees and shrubs 

 cultivated there, no species being entirely avoided by them. 



Bazin, in an article on " The Ravages upon the Oaks by 

 Bombyx dispar,''^ published in Bulletin de la Societe des 

 Sciences historiques et naturelles de I'Yonne," pages 11-20, 

 1870, speaks of the abundance of this species everywhere. 

 Before the middle of June, 1868, " there were spots in the 

 woods that every day spread like spots of oil on the water, 

 where not a leaf remained on the trees or shrubs." The oaks 

 were attacked first, and after they had been stripped the 

 birches, aspens, elms and even pines and larches were com- 

 pletely denuded. In the fields a large number of apple trees 

 were defoliated by this caterpillar, and the apples themselves 

 were sometimes eaten into to such an extent that they became 

 malformed. In the same article M. Bazin states that it was 



