There might be better evidence in the passage, so let's look at the remaining answer choices. It's the author's claim, and it might not relate to the actual state of things. The author says that it would be "enough to purchase a principality." That's a lot of money! While this statement is grand it its claim, it's also an estimate and hypothetical. "The enormous losses that have been inflicted upon the world through the perpetuation of follies with wild animals and plants would, if added together, be enough to purchase a principality." - Now we're getting somewhere: this sentence considers a hypothetical scenario that estimates the total amount of money spent fighting invasive species the world over. "In time, the state of Massachusetts was forced to begin a relentless war upon it, by poisonous sprays and by fire." - This sentence tells us the methods that Massachusetts has used to combat the gypsy moth, but it doesn't tell us anything about how expensive these methods are to use. "The spread of this pest has been slowed, but the gypsy moth never will be wholly stamped out." - This sentence has nothing to do with the cost of fighting the gypsy moth's advancement it just states that it is difficult to keep from advancing further. The strongest evidence about the expensive nature fighting invasive species will need to in some way implicate or directly mention the cost of fighting the species. It is steadily spreading in three directions from Boston, its original point of departure, and when it strikes the State of New York, we, too, will begin to pay dearly for the Trouvelot experiment. Today it exists in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, and it is due to reach New York at an early date. The spread of this pest has been slowed, but the gypsy moth never will be wholly stamped out. It was awful! Up to this date (1912) the New England states and the United States Government service have expended in fighting this pest about $7,680,000! In time, the state of Massachusetts was forced to begin a relentless war upon it, by poisonous sprays and by fire. The gypsy moth spread with alarming rapidity and persistence. It devoured the entire foliage of every tree that grew in its sphere of influence. The method of the big, nasty-looking mottled-brown caterpillar was very simple. Every effort was made to recover all the specimens, but enough escaped to produce progeny that soon became a scourge to the trees of Massachusetts. When he failed to find them all, he notified the State authorities of the accident.
Trouvelot sought to recover his specimens. The moth itself is not bad to look at, but its larvae is a great, overgrown brute with an appetite like a hog.
He was endeavoring with live specimens to find a moth that would produce a cocoon of commercial value to America, and a sudden gust of wind blew his living and breeding specimens of the gypsy moth out of his study through an open window. The scientist did not purposely set the pest free. This winged calamity was imported near Boston by a French entomologist, Mr. Today, there is a way in which any revengeful person could inflict enormous damage on the entire South, at no cost to himself, involve those states in enormous losses and the expenditure of vast sums of money, yet go absolutely unpunished! Even though Howell was caught red-handed, skinning seven Park bison cows, he could not be punished for it, because there was no penalty prescribed by any law. We are just as careless and easygoing on this point as we were about the government of Yellowstone Park in the days when Howell and other poachers destroyed our first national bison herd. The most aggravating feature of these follies in transplantation is that never yet have they been made severely punishable. The enormous losses that have been inflicted upon the world through the perpetuation of follies with wild animals and plants would, if added together, be enough to purchase a principality. Every introduced species is doubtful gravel until panned out. The man who successfully introduces into a new habitat any species of living thing assumes a very grave responsibility. Adapted from “Introduced Species That Have Become Pests” in Our Vanishing Wild Life, Its Extermination and Protection by William Temple Hornaday (1913)
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