286 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



titmice, tree-creepers, etc., ichneumons and tachinids are 

 especially to be noted. Orchard trees should be smeared 

 with a thin mixture of lime, black-soap, potash and cow- 

 dung. Killing : Destruction of the egg-masses, from August 

 to April, by scraping them off and burning them, or by 

 smearing them with wood-tar thinned with petroleum or 

 raupenleim. Killing the ' spiegel ' in May, and crushing the 

 caterpillars when clustering on the trunks and branches of 

 the trees, from the end of ]May through June ; gathering the 

 pupae in July and August.'' In a letter from Dr. Ebermayer, 

 professor in the University of Munich, dated July 22, 1895, 

 substantially the same methods are recommended. 



J. Porchinsky , in his work on * ' Insects Injurious to Fruit 

 Gardens in the Crimea," says: ''The eggs should be de- 

 stro^^ed in the winter season, when time and circumstances 

 permit. The egg-clusters should not be ciTished, as this 

 might allow some of them to escape ; but they should be 

 carefully scraped off and burned. The eggs ha^-ing been 

 destroyed, the tree should be protected from caterpillars that 

 might come from neighboring trees by * catch bands' (pre- 

 ventive bands). These preventive bands are almost the only 

 means with which to combat insects of all classes most injuri- 

 ous to orchards ; and, therefore, their consideration is of the 

 first importance ; but it is not so easy to find a paste that 

 will, under all conditions of weather, retain the peculiar 

 qualities desired. The most simple of these * catch bands ' 

 is a belt of tar put around the trunk of the ti'ees, on thick 

 paper, smeared with tar and made fast to the trunks. 



"In the Crimea, axle grease is placed about the tree 

 trunks in belts from three and a half to seven inches in 

 width, and about twenty-eight inches abo^'e the level of the 

 ground. This ointment often retains its sticky qualities a 

 long time, yet it is far from satisfactory. 



" The experiments of Klausen, in which he used wadding 

 as a catch band, are of importance in connection with the 

 question of prevention. A large number of these bauds of 

 cotton were put around the trunks of trees, the upper and 

 lower borders being well spread out, for, the more fluffy and 

 open the cotton, the more easily the caterpillars become 

 entano:led. In the course of two hours a larsfe number of 



