UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
- BULLETIN No. 484 
Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology 
L. O. HOWARD, Chief, in cocperation with 
the Forest Service, HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester 
Washington, D. C. PROFESSIONAL PAPER. April 9, 1917 
CONTROL OF THE GIPSY MOTH BY FOREST 
MANAGEMENT. 
PART I: THE GIPSY MOTH IN WOODS. 
By G. E. CLEMENT, 
Assistant in Forest Management. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. Page. 
EMEROGUCHION ae nee oe ete mate acscle cene mers 1 | Precautions needed..........--.------------- 10 
Behavior of the gipsy moth in the woods... 2 Application of food-plant data to individual 
Composition and condition of woods in in- SPOCLGS Meee ya WN, tN ee i aera 11 
hes bediberritoryee seas se eae ee kee 4 | Other measures in need of attention.-.......- 15 
Feeding habits of gipsy-moth caterpillars... . 8) Recommendationsn) 2. neesaccee cena eee 16 
INTRODUCTION. 
The gipsy moth (Porthetria dispar L.) was first liberated in this 
country in 1868 or 1869, and 20 years later, about 1888, it became a 
very serious pest in the neighborhood in which it was liberated. 
Since then it has continued to spread, destroying both coniferous and 
deciduous foliage, until it is now found throughout a large part of 
eastern New England. (See map, p. 16.) It is particularly obnox- 
ious because it feeds heavily on the foliage of so great a variety of 
trees and other forms of vegetation. Although many years have 
been spent in efforts to control the insect, it is still very abundant 
and in need of constant repression. 
Trees may be classified as shade trees, fruit trees, and forest trees. - 
Shade and fruit trees are more valuable, more accessible, and fewer 
in numbers than forest trees, and for these reasons have received 
much more attention than forest trees with respect to protection 
against gipsy-moth attack. Satisfactory means of protecting the 
first two classes of trees have been developed, but they are too expen- 
sive to be practicable in the case of forest trees. The problem of 
combating the gipsy moth in forests is a large one, and its solution 
will occupy many years. 
Twenty years ago gipsv-moth caterpillars were reputed to be 
almost pam crn Studies made in more recent times by the 
- 64360°—Bull. 484—17—_1 
