MONTHLY LETTER OF THE BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Number 133 lola gat May, 1925 



FRANKLIN HERBERT MOSHER! 
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Franklin Herbert Mosher, one of the Assistant Entomologists at the 
Gipsy Moth Laboratory at Melrose Highlands, Mass., died suddenly from an 
attack of pneumonia on April 18, 1925. He was born at Dartmouth, Mass., 
September 3, 1861, and was one of a large family. He lived on the home farn, 
and after attending the local schools completed the regular course ait the 
State Normal School at Bridgewater, Mass. After teaching for several years 
he entered the service of the Gipsy Moth Committee of the Massachusetts 
Board of Agriculture in 1894, and was assigned to field work on the gipsy 
moth project. 
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He was a great lover of nature, was gifted with unusual powers of 
observation, and his services were soon uwltilized in making careful studies 
of the behavior of the gipsy moth in the field. He paid particular attention 
to the usefulness of birds in destroying this insect, and conducted many 
; other experimental lines. When the State work was discontinued in 1900 he 
; returned to his home farm, where he remained for a few years, with the 
exception of one season spent in insect control work on a large estate in 
the Hudson Valley, New York. 
His interest in entomology and other phases of natural history 
increased during this time, and he was one of the first men to be employed 
when in 1905 the State resumed gipsy moth control work. He cared for the 
first shipments of European varasites of the gipsy moth that were brought 
to the United States, and assisted in the breeding and colonization of these 
species. In 1911 he was made an employe of the Bureau of Entomology, and 
Since then has been engaged in experimental work at the Gipsy Moth Laboratory, 
Mr. Mosher was of a modest and retiring disposition; he avoided 
publicity and deprecated superficial work or show of any kind. His publica- 
tions were small in number, but his records were thorough and accurate and 
his advice and assistance were sought and utilized on many of the problems 
dealt with at the Laboratory. He was very careful and thorough at his work, 
always dependable, a staunch and loyal friend, devoted to his home and family 
) and highly respected in the community in which he lived.-- A. F. B. 
