BOMBYCIDS. 
117 
gathered and burned or treated with a solution which destroys their 
life. Whole areas of forest and scrub land have been cleared and 
burned over to annihilate the pest. The work of the Board for the 
extermination of this pest has met with a good deal of adverse criti¬ 
cism, but that its labor of keeping in check this foreign army of 
invasion has been thoroughly performed, is shown by the fact that 
in many places where most abundant a few years ago it is now a 
very scarce insect. In fact one may walk for miles through parts of 
the infested area and not see a sign of its presence. 
The male moth is much smaller than his mate and can fly, while 
the female, although provided with wings, cannot use them in flight. 
The distribution of the insect, therefore, even if unrestricted, would 
be slow. The eggs are laid in clusters, usually on the bark of a tree, 
although the moth does not seem to be particular in this respect. 
The clusters are covered with hairs from the abdomen of the female 
and being ochre yellow in color are readily seen. The larva is 
brown and is thickly covered with stiff hairs, while red and blue 
tubercles adorn its back. 
Portliesia chrysorrlioea. 
Another importation from Europe which has also found a foothold 
in eastern Massachusetts, although not nearly so destructive as the 
Gypsy moth, is the Brown-tail moth, Porthesia clirysorrhoea. The 
moth is creamy white, with a white body tipped at the end of the 
abdomen with a tuft of brown hairs, from which the insect derives 
its common name. The larva is dark brown or black, with reddish 
hairs covering the body except on the sides, where there is a row of 
small tubercles from which spring white hairs. There are several 
small scarlet warts on the back. This insect is a good deal of a pest 
where abundant, as it devours the leaves of several of our fruit and 
shade trees and measures may have to be taken to prevent its increase 
and spread. 
