2 BULLETIN 204, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
general outline of the problems and investigations and the differ- 
ent activities of the work has already been published 1 in the Journal 
of Economic Entomology. 
During the fiscal year which ended June 30, 1914, an average of 
275 men was employed. The greater number were engaged in 
field operations, but a force of approximately 40 men were employed 
on different phases of experimental projects. 
EXPERIMENTAL WORK. 
In carrying on measures for the control of any insect pest it is 
necessary to conduct many experiments in order to determine the 
means which are most feasible for reducing the damage. For more 
than 20 years experiments have been carried on more or less con- 
tinuously by the State of Massachusetts and other States to which 
the gipsy moth has spread, as well as by the Bureau of Entomology, 
for the purpose of perfecting field measures for holding the insect in 
check, and from time to time improvements have been made which 
have reduced the cost of handling infested areas. Spraying ma- 
chinery has been developed so that at the present time it is entirely 
practical to treat large areas at a moderate cost. The banding of 
trees with tanglefoot has largely replaced the use of burlap bands 
and reduced the cost of this method of treatment. In fact, so much 
work has been done along these lines that the best methods of treat- 
ment are well understood and practiced in the areas where the gipsy 
moth is prevalent. Minor improvements are being made from time 
to time but in general satisfactory methods of hand suppression 
have been adopted. 
In 1905, when the Federal gipsy-moth work was being organized, it 
was considered very necessary and desirable to introduce the parasites 
and natural enemies which occur in foreign countries of both the 
gipsy moth (PortJietria dispar L.) (PI. I) and the brown-tail moth 
(Euproctis chmjsorvhoea L.) (PL II). The idea was prevalent that 
by securing and liberating these natural checks on the increase of 
these species, it would be possible greatly to reduce the damage, and 
it was hoped that the parasites would bring the pests as well under 
control as is the case in Europe. Accordingly arrangements were 
made by Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology, for 
the collection of a large amount of parasitic material in various 
European countries, and later similar arrangements were made with 
entomologists in Japan. This work was carried on for the first five 
years in cooperation with the State of Massachusetts. Several agents 
of the Bureau of Entomology have been sent to Europe on different 
occasions to investigate conditions and forward to this country as 
large an amount of parasitized material as could be collected. For 
two seasons this work was conducted by Mr. W. F. Fiske, who was 
assisted in the summer of 1912 by Mr. L. H. Worthley. Various 
i Jour. Econ. Ent., v. 7, No. 1, p. 83-87, Feb., 1914. 
