The Gypsy Moth. 



51 



in the Commonwealth, and giving full powers of action 

 against it. 



The State Board formed a committee, by whom inspectors 

 ^'ere appointed, with gangs of men under them, in each of 

 the sections, into which the infested district had been divided. 

 The eggs of the moth were first dealt with. Each inspector 

 was instructed to inspect his section and destroy all the eggs 

 found therein. The eggs were cut, or scraped, from the trees 

 with knives, gathered into cans, and burned with oil in small 

 stoves made for the purpose. Rubbish and undergrowth 

 containing eggs were also destroyed by fire. In some places 

 the bark of trees was so covered with egg clusters that it 

 presented a yellowish appearance. From a careful estimate 

 made by the inspectors it was show^n that the number of egg- 

 clusters destroyed in the first six weeks of 1891 was 757,760. 

 The number of eggs contained in ihese clusters would probably 

 be from 300,000,000 to 500,000,000. As the Gypsy moth 

 hibernates in the egg form, it is important that active 

 measures should be taken to destroy the eggs during the 

 winter. 



When the caterpillars emerged from the eggs their ascent 

 into the leafy parts of the trees was to some extent prevented 

 by encircling the trunk with some appliance, or substance, 

 as sacking, matting, or cotton-waste, in which the larvse 

 collected and were subsequently destroyed. (The codlin moth 

 caterpillars can be similarly caught in folds of sacking.) But 

 some of the large caterpillars got over these bands, and it 

 was found more efficacious to put bands of tarred paper round 

 the trees, so that the caterpillars were hindered from going 

 up. The composition used consisted of three parts of " tree 

 ink," one part of pine tar, and one part of residuum petro- 

 leum oil. Cotton-waste was put under the paper to prevent 

 the tar (which was put on very thickly, and frequently 

 renewed) from injuring the trees. It was found that unless 

 egg destruction had preceded the banding, the massing cater- 

 pillars bridged the tarred paper with their bodies, so that 

 other caterpillars crossed over and went up the trees. 



A new material for " tarring " was also used, termed 

 ■^^raupenleim"— literally, "caterpillar glue" used largely in 



u 2 



