18 
ing very rainy weather. It will readily be seen that it is not at all 
necessary to examine the bands every morning, since the life of the 
caterpillar extends through several weeks, and examination at inter- 
vals of a number of days will thus suffice. So effective has this method 
of ridding the tree of the insect proved that one of the most experi- 
enced and efficient of the assistants in the work has told the writer 
that it is his firm opinion that the last Gipsy Moth larva in the State 
of Massachusetts will be caught under a burlap band. 
Very much to the surprise of the workers, it was found that with the 
season of 1897 the caterpillars changed their habits to some extent, and 
that they sought the protection of the bands during the day with much 
less regularity than in previous years. It seems likely that this is to 
be accounted for by the fact that the breeding season of 1897 was an 
exceptionally dark and rainy one. The effort of the caterpillars in 
entering beneath the bands seems to have 
been for the purpose of avoiding the 
bright sunlight, so that when the sky 
was dark there no longer existed a neces- 
sity for this effort. The fact remained, 
however, that the bands were by no 
means as effective as they had been in 
previous years, and the workers were 
obliged to adopt a modification of the 
former methods. The extensive banding- 
was done as usual in the spring, but the 
changed habit becoming apparent more 
spraying was carried on, and it was found 
that with the smaller trees a severe jar 
would cause most of the larva j to fall to 
the ground, more or less suspended on 
their journey by silken threads. Upon reaching the ground they at 
once crawl actively to the base of the tree, where, entering the burlap 
band at a height of 4 or 5 feet, would creep under it, and were thus 
in condition to be destroyed by the next gang of men. This jarring 
method was adopted with great success in several bad colonies. 
Toward the end of July, however, the weather changed radically. 
The long-continued spell of wet weather ceased and the caterpillars, to 
a certain extent, at least, resumed their normal habits and came to the 
bands 5 but by this time the examining of the bands had practically 
been discarded. They served a most excellent purpose, however, since 
in many localities perhaps the majority of the egg clusters were laid 
beneath them or in their immediate vicinity. Several badly infested 
regions were visited for example on the morning of November 17, in 
which it was noticed that almost every egg cluster on a given tree was 
to be found within a circle of a few inches from the band. This renders 
their treatment particularly easy, since the less expert men could be 
used for the work. 
Fig. 7. — Manner of applying burlap 
bands : a, band as originally tied ; b, 
band with upper half turned down- 
greatly reduced (after Forbush). 
