BROW-TAIL MOTH 
During the summer of 1940 there were a few reports of defoliation "by this 
insect. In south-central and southeastern hew Hampshire there were several 
localities where apple orchards and elms were completely defoliated. Some de- 
foliation was also reported from Maine. According to reports received from 
Maine, Hew Hampshire, and Massachusetts, the total number of "brown-tail moth 
v/ebs cut by State or local authorities during the winter of 1939-40 was con- 
siderable greater in Maine and Hew Hampshire and less in Massachusetts . In 
Maine the number increased from 97^»000 in 193 S— 39 to l r 469 , 000 in 1939~^0. In 
Hew Hampshire, with about the same number of men working, 515 >000 webs were cut 
in 1939-40, as compared with 117,000 cut in the winter of 1938-39* in Massa- 
chusetts the number of webs cut in 1939~^0 decreased considerably. During this 
time 254,000 webs were cut, whereas in 1938-39 a total of 644,000 webs were 
destroyed. (A. F. Burgess, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, U. S. D.i 
S CRB WORMS 
Adult activity in Texas, as indicated by sta.tus and survey traps (4S 
traps) was 50 percent or more below normal for January and February 1940 in 
all of the overwintering area. Winter survival was approximately normal on the 
western Balcones Escarpment and much below normal on the Rio Grande and Gulf 
Plains. Ho overwintering was indicated on the eastern Balcones Escarpment. 
From March to the middle of May the build-up was much below normal and increa.se. 
in abundance was slight. An unusual increase of adults occurred the la.tter part 
of May, and the population over all the western Balcones Escarpment was above 
normal from June to September, and above normal on the eastern Balcones Escarp- 
ment and on the Edwards Plateau during August and September. In all of these 
northern areas the October and Hovember increase war marked, and the adult 
activity was below normal. At the end of 1940 the usual late December increase 
was indicated on the west-south escarpment. Over the Rio Grande and Gulf 
Plains the fly populations have been very low during the entire yean , excepting 
the Laredo -Rio Grande City area which has had a marked increase in' adults dur- 
ing Hovember. Migration of the fly into central Texas and Oklahoma was at the 
usual rate of spread; that is, the fly reached central Texas soon after May 1 
and was in southern Oklahoma, after approximately June 1. Reports from Jackson 
and Vicksburg, Miss., and from Tallulah and Shreveport, La., indicated that the 
fly had. not reached these places early in September. Some ca.ses were reported 
at Palestine, Tex., in August and early in September. Reports from A r i z ona 
indicated the fl/ r to bo normal or above normal in activity. A survey in 
California (Sept. 19 - 30) indicated the fly to be abnormally abundant over the 
southern part of the State and as far north as Redding, in the Sacramento 
Valley. The first known positive identification in Lake County was recorded 
late in September. The winter was abnormally mild in California, and the early 
spring floods in the upper Sacramento Valley were conducive to the outbreak:. 
(D. C. Par man ehdVW. L. Barrett, Jr., Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, 
U. S. D. A.) 
County a.gents of Florida reported that scrcwworm cases were less plentiful 
during 1940 than during any preceding year since the pest became established 
in the Southeast. Localized cases were reported in Escambia, Holmes, and 
