10 THE DISPEESIOX OF THE GIPSY MOTH. 
territory. The caterpillar outbreak was sufficient to convince every tree lover 
of the necessity of concerted action against the moths. While in many places 
in the afflicted district the trees under the charge of municipal authorities were 
cared for with considerable success, private estates and woodlands in June and 
July presented shocking scenes of devastation. In many places the work of 
fire could not have been more thorough or alarming. From Belmont to Saugus 
and Lynn a continuous chain of woodland colonies presented a sight at once 
disgusting and pitiful. The hungry caterpillars of both species of moths 
swarmed everywhere ; they dropped on persons, carriages, cars, and automobiles, 
and were thus widely scattered. They invaded houses, swarmed into living and 
sleeping rooms, and even made homes uninhabitable. 
GIPSY-MOTH WORK RESUMED. 
It must be noted that the conditions above described were most 
favorable for the dispersion of this insect, and in order to determine 
so far as possible the territory which had become infested, inspectors 
from the office of the superintendent made an examination of a large 
area outside of that known to be infested when the work was stopped. 
Of necessity this examination was hurriedly done, owing to the fact 
that a sufficient number of trained men could not be secured in the 
limited time available, and also because a large number of the more 
experienced workers had to be employed in fighting the intolerable 
conditions in the central towns. The results of the scouting work, 
however, showed that the gipsy moth was present in 124 towns and 
cities in Massachusetts. Seven infested towns were also found in Xew 
Hampshire, extending from the Massachusetts line along the sea- 
coast to and including Portsmouth, so that the entire infested area 
proved to be six times greater than when the work was abandoned. 
Each year since 1905 more or less scouting work has been done by the 
State of Massachusetts in the towns outside of the known infested 
area, and in Maine, Xew Hampshire. Rhode Island, and Connecticut 
large sections have been examined by scouts working under the 
direction of Mr. D. M. Rogers, superintendent of moth work for the 
Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture, 
and every year additional infested territory has been found. As a 
rule very few* egg clusters are found in the outside towns, but it 
should be stated that the examination is confined to the roadsides, 
residential sections, and orchards, it being impossible to examine all 
the large forest areas involved. 
The same factors which previously resulted in the dispersion of 
the insect were found to be operating, but the danger had been 
greatly increased owing to the development of many high-speed 
and long-distance trolley lines which conveyed people from the cen- 
ters of population to the rural districts rapidly and in many cases 
without changing cars. These increased transportation facilities 
afforded an excellent opportunity for the distribution of gipsy-moth 
