iv 



THE GYPSY MOTH, 



river [a map was shown] , which it does not seem to have passed 

 easily. It passed these few points probably in hauling manure. 



Professor Fernald. Are you quite sure of the boundaries? 

 They are reported in Maine and Western Massachusetts. 



Professor Shaler. I know they are, but putting the worst face 

 upon it, as I am at present doing, I think an area of something 

 like five by ten miles is the region that has got to be closely 

 studied. There is a reasonable suspicion of it over an area of say 

 fifty square miles, and the work has got to be done over that area. 

 One of the discouraging features is that there is a great traffic 

 through this territory. Railroads and wagon roads go through it, 

 and there is a large traffic in manure out of the district. We have 

 twenty-four thousand dollars to spend for certain, and I am sure 

 the Legislature will give us anything in reason we ask for. 



Mr. Appleton. It seems to me the situation is this : Can we 

 eradicate this thing, and, if so, how? If we cannot eradicate it 

 entirely, what is the best we can do ? Now, the first question to 

 consider, it seems to me, is. Can we eradicate it, or not? 



Professor Shaler. We should like to have the opinion of ex- 

 perts on that point. Professor Riley, will you give us your word ? 



Professor Riley. I will be very glad to give you whatever 

 suggestions I can on the subject. I have taken the same interest 

 in this matter since it was so prominently announced that I do in 

 all matters of applied entomology, and I have felt that in the main 

 Professor Fernald's original suggestions were very wise. The in- 

 sect, as Professor Shaler has well said, has but limited powers of 

 spreading. While the female has wings, it is heavy bodied and 

 flies but little, and the history of the past twenty years shows that 

 its spread has been very gradual. Therefore we have a condition 

 of affairs totally different from that prevailing in the insect's native 

 home, Europe, and we are justified in making a strong effort to 

 undo the harm that has been done. That brings up, first of all, 

 the question : Is it practicable to exterminate it, or not? In view 

 of Professor Shaler's statement, I have serious doubts, because, if 

 it may be said to occur in an area of say fifty square miles, if it is 

 found even in a number of central points of distribution in that 

 area, there is great danger, in my judgment. My own fears would 

 be that it has got into the woods and on to trees that are not so 

 easily treated. So long as it was confined to cultivated trees and 

 plants under cultivation I think there would have been no difficulty 

 at all, and the authorities would have been blameworthy in allow- 

 ing it to go out from Massachusetts over the rest of the country. 



Professor Shaler. I don't think it has gotten into the woods. 

 I think it is still confined to the artificial grounds, as yet. 



