Evening journal., 1914-07-31
GYPSY AND brown
TAIL MOTHS menace
One Destroys Farmers'CropS;
Other AnnoyS SeaShOre
Visitors
GOVERNMENT
STUDIES PESTS

WASHINGTON. d. c., July 81. -
Two unbldden immigrants came into
he United States some years ago.
.oday. they are the objects Of the COM
oined attack OF the Federal ana sew
,rai state governments. which have
turned to Europe and Asia for help IN
their flight. Not only have the Two
visitors devastated vast
vegetable tracts in this country out
one OF them has originated and intro
duced new human ailment that Is
doing great damage to the business OF
summer resorts. The two immigrants
are the eypsy-moth and the brown
tail moth. The warfare being waeed |
against them is described in a com
to the National Geo
graphic Society, at Washington d. w. /
by DR.. L. o. Howard.
The gypsy-moth, according to the
writer. was brought 70 this country
for experimental purposes by
French professor OF astronomy in
New England university. It's impor-
tation is about the only case OF IT'S
kind on record. The brown-tail came
70 our shores in the normal course OF
commerce. From 1892 until 1900
both species we're confined to Massa-
chusetts. where a bitter fight was
waged against them by the State.
From 1900 to 1905. however, they were
unmolested, except by individual
property holders. Since 1905, Massa-
chusetts has been joined in her fight
bv New Hampshire. Maine. Rhode is
land and Connecticut, into which
States the pests migrated. And now
the limited States Government has
stepped in TO prevent the iurther
spread over the face OF the country
Since the young of the moth prefer
the leaves OF certain trees Tor Ioou'
the States are removing these trees
from the forests subject TO the moth
attack. In some cases, the problem
may mean ultimate reforestation. The
female gypsy-moth does not fly, but
the species was spread when the in
sect. while in the caterpillar stage,
crawled on trolley cars, automobiles
and other vehicles, and upon the
clothes Of pedestrians. This condi-
ton was remedied by driving the
pests from the highways for dis
tance Of so TO 100 feet. Enormous
wire screens, coated with a sticky
substance to entangle them, erected to
the windward of infected woods, dem
onstrated the fact that many young
caterpillars, suspended by their silk
en- thread, were carried by the wind
/ TO distance Of six miles or more, and
the attacking forces are now concen-
trating their efforts along the border
OF spread. As an added precaution
/ TO a spread Of the pests, all products
shipped from the infested region are
rigidly inspected for the larvae Of the
insect. The female brown-tail moth
is a strong flyer. but fortunately she
Is not so hard to control. Early spring
and fall spraying and the cutting off
Of the Characteristic winter nests have
brought wonderful results.
The principle money loss caused by
the latter pest occurs at the summer
resort, where the prevalence Of what
has come to be known as the brown
tail rash" keeps people away. The
hairs of the brown-tail caterpillar
are finely barbed and brittle. and
where they come in contact with the
human skin these hairs enter the skin
pores. break off. and cause a severe
/ irritation. II is not always neces-
sary for the caterpiller TO come in
contact with the skin for at certain
times of the year the hairs are floating
[ in the air.
The more recent recruits in the war
/ against the moths are numerous
species Of true parasites, which have
been imported from Europe and Asia.
Chief among them is the Calosoma
beetle. whose speciality is the devour-
ing of leaf-eating caterpillars AL
though slow to get start. these bee
ties are now thriving in this country
and are expected to exterminate mil
lions of the moths during the present
summer. Another recruit is the Jap
anese egg parasite. the Schedius ku-
vanae, which undergoes its entire de-
velopment in a single gypsy-moth egg