Home › Volumes › Moths › Tussock Moths
Gypsy Moth
This well-known insect is a native of the Old World. A number of years ago, a gentleman interested in entomology, and residing at the time in Cambridge, Massachusetts, received from a friend in Europe a number of cocoons of the moth, from which the insects in due season emerged. A few of the number were prepared and mounted in his cabinet, and the remainder were allowed to escape through the window of the room in which they were. Unchecked by the presence of parasites, which in their native habitat keep their numbers down, they rapidly multiplied and became a scourge. Fully a million of dollars has thus far been expended in the effort to exterminate them. In spite of all the exertion which has been put forth, the insect appears to have obtained a permanent foothold in the New England States, though in recent years the destruction wrought has not been very great, owing to the incessant vigilance which is maintained by the civic authorities in repressing the nuisance.