THE PINE DESTROYER. 107 



such as Peridermium Fini,^ Feziza, Willkommii, Trametes radici, 

 pef'da, Foiyponis su/phureus, TraiJietes Fmi, and the Hke. Withering 

 wrote sixty years ago of the Scotch Fir, that " It affords nourish- 

 ment to Phal^ena Pini, Curculio Pini^ and Cimex Abietis. Aphis 

 Pini converts the buds or young shoots of the Fir into a very 

 beautiful gall, somewhat resembling a Fir-cone or a Pine-apple in 

 miniature. A species of Chermes sometimes produces an enor- 

 mous scaly protuberance at the summit of the branches, which is 

 formed by the extravasation of the juices occasioned by punctures 

 made in order to deposit their eggs — the young larvae sheltering 

 themselves in cells contained in the tumour. It has lately been 

 ascertained that Fir-trees are likely to be absolutely destroyed by 

 the perforations of Sirex juvencus, as the woods at Henham-Hall, 

 Suffolk, testify. Noctiia pmastri deposits larvas in the leading 

 buds, often perforating the young shoots, and thus depriving the 

 tree of its leader. And here must be introduced Achatea spreta 

 {Noctiia pmiperda, Kob),t a moth whose larvae totally consume the 

 foliage (which the green-striped caterpillar singularly resembles), 

 occasionally ravaging even extensive forests. The magnificent 

 and rare insect, Odonestis Pini,t also feeds upon the Scotch Fir, 

 and the Pine forests of Scotland are the most productive places 

 for the uncommon {sic) Lophyriis Fi?ii (and also Lophyrus pallidtisY-^^ 

 whose larvae are gregarious, assembling in numerous troops on the 

 branches and not only devouring the leaves of the Pine, but also 

 the bark of the young shoots. The leading branches are likewise 

 destroyed by the beetle, Hylurgus pifiiperdaT It is with this latter 

 alone that we are now concerned, but it may be of interest if I 

 remark that Miss Ormerod, in her "Manual of Injurious Insects,"tt 

 describes no fewer than eight different kinds of parasites which 

 prey upon the various species of Pine — two moths, two beetles, 

 two species of sirex, an aphis, and a saw-fly — several of which are 

 different from those enumerated by Withering. It thus appears 



* Timber and so7Jie of its Diseases : By Prof. H. Marshall Ward. 1889. 



+ Curtis, Br. Ent., III., PI. T17. 



: Ibid I., pi. 7. 



* * Ibid II., pi. 54. I have recently bred L. rufus in Carlisle. 



t t Pp. 217, seq. 



