Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-03-14
Massachusetts Winning Fight
With The Moth Pest.
Pc ssIMIsM LAST-BoTH GYPSY
AND sRoWN.TAiL PLAGUE coNTRoL-HoW
sFoREsTERs HAVE INCREASING EXPERIENCE AND


or two of foraging on their own hook in
Dictated that several species had spread
widely through the infested country, and
that they We're not only promising to
weather our climate, but that they We're
actually accomplishing noticeable re-
suits. one of the gypsy moth egg para
sites which is likely TO become of great
Importance is thriving well and doing
good work wherever it has appeared. and
another egg parasite shows promise, al
it's spread is rather slow, owing
TO the fact that it has but one generation
in a year Another tiny fly, mere
speck of the "no-see- UNI order. which
raises havoc with brown-tail winter
webs, has turned up widely scattered in
Massachusetts, New Hampshire and
Maine, and two other brown-tail enc
mics, flies of a little larger size, have
greatly increased their range this past
year One Of these latter has made n
fourfoid gain in territory in a single sea-
son. Still other species which chase the
brown-tail, two flies much like small
house flies in general appearance have
shown themselves to be yet in the ring,
although not in great numbers, and yet
their presence is most encouraging, in
asmuch as they We're not expected to
show themselves so soon.
During the year the laboratory was
successful in securing from Russia,
Spain and Italy several thousand speci-
mems of a two-winged fly, something
like a small horsehy, which they had
previously tried in vain to get in sufii-
cient quantity. This fly preys upon the
grown-up brown-tai caterpillars, and
the entomologists are much pleased oyer
this successful Importation. Their eff
forts hereafter win be, so far as the
browntail is concerned, to introduce
other species which will attack the moth
in other stages of its development, for
II has to be realized that the success of
this parasite warfare depends not alone
upon the numbers of parasites, but 10
a high degree upon the variety that can
be introduced There must be parasites
for every stage of the moths develop
ment, enemies of the egg, of the young
alternating eaterpillars, of the growing
caterpillars of the pupae and of the
moths themselves. And this applies nat
urally to the gypsy moth. as well as to
the browntail. but with the latter Dr.
Howard seems to think that they have
already sufficiently colonized some OF
the species essential to the sequence.
Several of the gypsy moth parasites
attack the browntail as well. Consider
able difficulty has been experienced IN
establishing gypsy moth egg parasites,
but it has already been shown that there
is cause for believing that this trouble
is passed. One of the important flies at
lacking both caterpillars has been found
to have established itself firmly through
out the Massachusetts territory and to
have spread across the border into New
Hampshire. Then there are the Gallo
soma beetles, predaceous insects, on
which no great dependence has ever
been placed, but which this past year
have been found to have increased to a
gratifying extent They were found in
abundance in the badly infested section
this past season, where they made really
enormous inroads not only upon the cat