[Publib] Bard's Gardens Monday

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Hi, Kevin -- since Medford is near Somerville, do they talk about this bit of nature run amok?  Nothing to do with Shakespeare as far as I know but I'm sure silk showed up in some of the plays.

In 1868 a French scientist, Leopold Trouvelot, brought gypsy moths to his home in Medford, Massachusetts because native silk spinning caterpillars were proving to be susceptible to disease. Trouvelot wanted to use the gypsy moth eggs to develop a caterpillar hybrid that would be resistant to diseases.  He was not successful getting a silk-spinner but gypsy moths escaped from his lab, found a good habitat and started to multiply. Those of you in the eastern U.S. are familiar with the devastation they've wrought on hardwood trees in the eastern United States.

I based the above description on the info in the wikipedia article on gypsy moth but it's been written about extensively in the entomological literature.  I can probably track down a few citations if you need them.


Judy Turner
Whitefish Bay, WI 

Blogging at: http://alms-jact.blogspot.com/
and
http://judyct.wordpress.com/

"Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved." ---- "Silence in the Library"  (Doctor Who, Season 4, Ep. 8)