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GIPSY MOTH AND BROWN-TAIL MOTH INVESTIGATIONS 
A. F. Burgess, Senior Entomologist, in Charge 
A. F. Burgess spent a few days in Washington, D.C. inwthe week of 
September 28, and on that date attended the satin moth quarantine hearing. 
During the week of September 14, H. L. Blaisdell and S. S. Crossman 
made an inspection tour of the Barrier Zone from Pittsfield, Mass., north to 
the Canadian border, and visited some areas west of the Barrier Zone in the 
State of New York. L. EB. Gibson and H. N. Bean, of the Scouting and Exter- 
mination Project, accompanied them on part of this trip. At Pittsfield a 
conference was held with H. L. McIntyre, of the New York State Conservation 
Commission. : 
J. V. Schaffner and H. I. Winchester, of the laboratory force, recently 
made a trip into northern New Jersey and the central and northern parts of 
New York, collecting native larvae, to determine the distribution of some of 
the introduced parasites of the gipsy moth (Porthetria dispar). One species 
has been recovered well beyond the gipsy moth dispersion line, and another 
one has been recovered from within the barrier zone. 
. R. T. Webber and P. B. Dowden, who have been investigating the gipsy 
moth and the brown-tail moth and their natural enemies in central Europe dur- 
-ng the last six months, returned to the gipsy moth laboratory at Melrose 
Eighlands on September 4. Forest areas and entomologists were visited in 
cermany, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Jugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, -and 
Eoumania. No infestations of sufficient intensity to allow for the carrying 
cn of parasite introduction work were found in any of these countries except 
Eungary and Czechoslovakia. The areas in Poland and Hungary where gipsy moth 
Darasite work was conducted. the previous year were practically free of gipsy 
moth infestations this year, and new infested areas had to be found. Suit- 
adle infestations were located at Baja in the southern part of Hungary and at 
Bilky in northeastern Czechoslovakia. At these points. temporary laboratories 
were established where parasite work was conducted during the season; from 
00,000 to 400,000 gipsy moth larvae and pupae were handled at each of these 
locations and several fine parasite importations were made. As a result of 
this work, together with the work conducted by §. M. Dohanian in Spain and 
Portugal, approximately 40,000 tachinids have been placed in hibernation at 
the laboratory at Melrose and over 5,000 adults of multibrooded tachinids 
were liberated in gipsy moth infestations in New England during this summer. 
In addition to the tachinid. material received, about 14,500 A. vittripemaas 
were liberated in New England. Of this number, 1,500 adults were liberated 
directly after they had been brought by T. H. Jones from Europe to Melrose 
Highlands. . The other 13,000 were obtained at the Melrose Laboratory by 
breeding several generations on gipsy moth larvae, using European adult para- 
sites for the original stock. Bight species of tachinids, six species of 
Hymenoptera, and three species of Coleoptera were involved in the European 
work this season, 
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