The MAiPLE Bark Louse. 83 



lice the production of male is not necessary and does not 

 take place for every brood and that increase in numbers is 

 more rapid when the male is absent; and this is not at all 

 impossible. But ^liss Smith thinks her observations do not 

 support this view. 



Before the fall of the leaves, the insects remove to the 

 branches and attach themselves permanently by inserting 

 their beaks into the bark. During the winter they lie dor- 

 mant, and in the spring the eggs are matured, to be depos- 

 ited during the latter part of May. " Early in the month 

 of May the attention is attracted to the ground or sidewalks, 

 underneath the affected trees, which is covered with spots 

 similar to honey-dew, the lower limbs and opening leaves 

 presenting a sticky sensation to the touch, which continues 

 to be noticeable for something over one week before the de- 

 position of eggs commences." This is explained to be either 

 an exudation of sap from numerous punctures in the bark, 

 or, more probably, a secretion from the insect itself. The 

 deposition of eggs completed, the insect withdraws its beak 

 from the bark, and dies about the beginning of July, hav- 

 ing lived a little over a year. It still adheres loosely to the 

 bark by means of the cottony mass. 



MODES OF SPREADING. 



It is not difficult for a mass of eggs to be blown by the 

 wind from one tree to another, and the young may easily 

 crawl upon other insects or birds and so be carried. The 

 most probable way apparant for spreading over great dis- 

 tances is by being carried in shipments of young trees. But 

 these conjectures do not seem sufficient to explain the facts. 



REMEDIES. 



The fluctuation in the course of nature when such an in- 

 sect becomes greatly multiplied,is in any case very small com- 

 pared with the steady flow of the great stream of life; it is 

 no more than a mere ripple on the surface. And nature 

 never allows any variation to go greatly beyond bounds. 

 If it could, weed or an insect might continue to increase and 

 at length overwhelm the earth. There are always natural 



