214 THE PINE DESTROYER. 



the plantations. Take them away to the timber-yard, strip off 

 the bark, and burn it, and keep the wood dry. Very often when 

 I have been exploring pine forests for plants, fungi, and insects, I 

 have come across tree after tree which has fallen or been felled, 

 but has never been removed from the ground, and five minutes' 

 examination has revealed whole colonies of most interesting but 

 industrious creatures in various stages of development, each doing 

 its own work, and in many instances preparing for a period when 

 it would, by force of numbers, or altered form and locaHty, do 

 incalculable harm. Had the fallen tree been removed or utilised, 

 no need for the services of these humble but useful creatures 

 would have arisen, and no nidus or breeding place for more 

 destructive forms would have been provided. 



When, however, the young beetle emerges from the dead log 

 it has taken on a new form of existence, and new modes of life. 

 And here it is that the importance of our study begins to appear. 

 There are some who maintain that the habits of the pine destroyer 

 are merely saprophytic, not parasitic. Dr. Chapman writes to the 

 following effect — " I determined with regard to this species and 

 Scolytiis destructor that they only attacked dead or sickly trees. A 

 sound tree throws out so much sap (in the pines, resinous) that 

 the beetle makes no progress. I have seen sickly elms that might 

 perchance have recovered, destroyed by Scolytus, and it is con- 

 ceivable that attack might be made in such force as to exhaust the 

 available sap, but I know of no such instance." In order to 

 determine this point I have made several excursions to pine 

 plantations in different parts of Cumberland, with the following 

 results : — i. — I find that Hylurgus lives under the bark of 

 dead and decaying trees, where it makes a series of tunnels or 

 galleries, as figured in Miss Ormerod's Manual. Near the 

 country inn, usually known as the Red Cat, near Carlisle, I examined 

 some trees which had been thrown down, and found them full of 

 larvse and dead beetles. 2. — I also find that the beetles settle on 

 the young trees in the plantations (as well as on the old sturdy 

 trees with a good sound trunk), eating their way into the very centre 

 of the leading shoots, which, in a short time, become so weakened 

 that any little squall or storm will cause them to snap asunder and 

 fall. That these trees are in good health may be shown in many 



