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at any time. As we have been disturbed quite a considerable for the past two years, I think that the people of Providence ought to try to prevent the insect from destroying trees throughout the State." (C. E. Price, 179 Sherburn Street.)

OCCURRENCE IN OTHER STATES.

(See map of New England States, and of Infested district around
Stonington, Conn).

Connecticut

A colony of the moths was discovered last year in the neighborhood of Stonington. Fortunately that State has a standing fund for dealing with insect pests, and prompt measures were at once taken to exterminate it. It is located in a section of brush-land where it is rather difficult to find, but on the other hand the infested area is very small, covering approximately only one square mile, and it is also hedged about by water in such a way that the moth can escape only in one direction. A letter from Dr. Britton, quoted on page 70, says that he has the situation well in hand and hopes to exterminate the colony in the near future.

New Hampshire.

In 1905, Professor Sanderson of the New Hampshire Agricultural College secured an expert scout from the Massachusetts force. He, together with Professor Sanderson's assistant, scouted the towns along the coast to and including the city of Portsmouth. The pest was found in nearly all of these towns. Professor Sanderson says that the infestation in New Hampshire is probably confined to Rockingham county, east of the Western Division of the Boston and Maine Railroad.

Maine.

During the present fall, notice has been received that there is a very small colony in the southeastern corner of Maine in the towns

of Kittery, Elliot, and York. A stray egg cluster was also found at the Soldiers' Home at Togus, near Augusta. The United States Bureau of Entomology is now scouting the region from Kittery to Portland, and it is possible that further infestations may be found.

OCCURRENCE OF THE GYPSY MOTH IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

The gypsy moth is a well-known and seriously injurious insect throughout a large section of the northern part of the Eastern Hemisphere. It is very prevalent throughout all the countries of continental Europe. It is found as far north as Stockholm in Sweden, and St. Petersburg in Russia, across temperate Asia to China and Japan, south into Ceylon and Northern Africa. The insect has probably been present in all of these regions, with the exception of Northern Africa, for many centuries, and its parasitic enemies are quite numerous and active. For this reason it is seldom that it maintains itself to an extremely injurious extent for a great number of years, but nevertheless there are frequent outbreaks in which large sections of the country are devastated. Only a few years ago a section of Southern Russia and neighboring countries as large as the states bordering on the Atlantic in this country was thoroughly devastated causing untold loss. A special report of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture on the gypsy moth quotes numerous records from the entomological literature of Europe, showing that, long before entomology was studied to any extent, records of outbreaks of this insect have been made. A number of years for the past two centuries have been known as "caterpillar years" in various sections of Europe from the fact that the gypsy moth was extremely prevalent. In recent years the insect has received a great deal of attention from European entomologists, and one of the problems which the modern forestry policies of Germany and other European countries have to consider is that of preventing damage to woodlands from the gypsy moth.

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PLATE V.

Female gypsy moths laying eggs. The branch on which they are was cut from a tree near Mashapaug Pond.

In

among the straw of the bird's nest can also be seen the empty pupa cases and a number of cast skins of the caterpillars. If one looks closely two male moths may be observed at the left.

[graphic]

A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE GYPSY MOTн.

The following description will, so far as practicable, avoid the use of technical terms, and the best pictures obtainable will be added as illustrations. Still it is realized that many who are unacquainted with the study of entomology and unaccustomed to determining species of insects from printed or oral descriptions will find it more or less difficult to decide whether a specimen found is really the gypsy moth or some other insect which has always been with us. Those who may be so perplexed can compare the specimens found with the life history mounts placed in the libraries of the State, or, what will be still better, send the insect to the office of the Commissioner at the Rhode Island College, Kingston. It need not be urged upon anyone, in view of the destructive character of this insect and its vast possibilities for continued and untold damage if it once gets a widely scattered foothold in our waste forest lands, to watch carefully all insects suspected and to report their presence and send specimens if necessary. The experiences in Massachusetts, related in part elsewhere in this report, should be sufficient warning to the people in Rhode Island not to suffer this pest to escape their vigilance.

The eggs of the gypsy moth are laid in elongated, flattened clusters, about one-third to one inch by one-half to one and one-half inches. Each cluster contains from three hundred to six hundred eggs. The eggs are nearly globular, and one-twentieth of an inch in diameter. In color they are of a dark salmon when first laid, but if fertile, they darken considerably on the development of the embryo, which is fully formed in about three weeks. The eggs are closely packed, and held together by a kind of cementing material. The cluster is covered. over with yellow hairs which are detached from the body of the female while depositing them. This covering and the cementing material render the clusters quite impervious to water from rain or snow, or to injury from extremes of temperature. As indicated by the dimensions already given, the egg clusters are generally of an elongated shape. They vary, however, considerably with the location in which they are found and the circumstances attending the

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