A Short History of the Brown-Tail Moth (1782). William Curtis. London: The Curwen Press, 1969. [v], 18, [ii], 13 pp. $9.30. Entomological Reprint Specialists, Los Angeles, California.

Excerpt: This slim volume is easily one of the most attractive entomological reprints that has appeared to date. Most American entomologists are familiar with the story of the brown-tail moth, Nygmia phaeorrhoea Donovan, the European species which was introducted into Massachusetts in the 1890s and became a serious pest in the northeastern United States and adjoining Canada until appropriate control measures were taken. The Brown-tail is a defoliator of forests, orchards and hedgerows, and as D. S. Fletcher explains in his entomological notes to this reprint, populations of the species periodically build up to epidemic levels and create havoc. Such an outbreak occurred near London in 1782, and caused widespread fear of a \u27plague\u27