The Gypsy Moth. 



53 



clothes-line. The edges hung loosely, but the centre was 

 bound securely to the trunk, and the caterpillars crawling 

 down in search of shelter got under the folds, and were killed 

 by the workmen, who crushed them, or, if they were in large 

 quantities, brushed them off into baskets and destroyed them. 



Upon the whole, the efforts of the Massachusetts Board of 

 Agriculture were fairly successful. Not only has the spread 

 of the insect been checked, but the region now occupied by the 

 •Gypsy moth is much less extensive than that occupied by it 

 when the work was begun. The work of the Board was much 

 restricted by reason of the inadequacy of the grants, or appro- 

 priations, made by the Government, as well as by the repeated 

 delays in making the annual appropriations for this purpose. 

 The reporters state that there is no doubt that the Gypsy moth 

 can be held in check, and that it can be exterminated if suffi- 

 cient resources can be secured, and vigorous measures taken. 



The male moth has a wing expanse of from one and a-halt 

 to two inches, and is of a brownish yellow colour. The 

 female is larger and lighter in colour, being of a yellowish 

 white. Though it has ample wings it does not fly, but crawls 

 up trees and shrubs to lay its eggs in clusters, and deposits 

 them also in holes in walls, under stones, on dead leaves, 

 under fence rails, and in other places. The eggs are about 

 the twentieth of an inch in lateral diameter, and of a dark 

 salmon colour when laid, getting darker later on. The eggs 

 remain during the autumn and winter, and have powers of 

 resisting heat and cold in a marvellous manner, until they 

 are hatched in April. They are laid in the summer, and 

 remain until the end of April, when caterpillars begin to 

 appear. The caterpillar is rather more than an inch long 

 when full grown. Its head is dull or yellowish white, and 

 more or less mottled with black or brown over the top or 

 sides. The body is dark brown mottled with yellow, with 

 a yellowish or ochreous dorsal line. There are groups of 

 black spines and yellow hairs on each tubercle, and on the 

 head and lower extremity. The caterpillars remain in this 

 stage from six to seven weeks, and collect in masses to spin 

 cocoons for pupation, which takes place upon trees, under 

 stones, and in many other places. The pupa is reddish 



