144 Black-game 



My next enquir}' concerned the effect the spangle-galls produced 

 on the oak tree. I asked a distinguished professor of agriculture, 

 who was also much interested in arboriculture, whether the galls 

 were injurious to the trees. To my astonishment, he replied that 

 they did little or no harm, and he did not consider them of any 

 economic importance. 



1 cannot believe that this view is correct. A single oak-leaf 

 will have the under-surface studded with some 40 to 50 of these 

 galls. I could not find a tree that was unaffected ; practicallv 

 every leaf had these galls attached in quantity. 



The physiological functions which leaves perform are, of 

 course, a vital necessity to the plant, and it seems to me im- 

 possible to believe that a leaf covered with galls is able to 

 carry on its chemical processes as well as a leaf which is perfectly 

 free from these products of insects. The leaves are really affected 

 with a parasitic disease, which must in the end damage the 

 growth of the timber. 



The destruction of these galls in large numbers by the Black- 

 game should be counted to them for righteousness. 



There remains for consideration the small dark brown beetle, 

 which, like the spangle galls, was present in quantity in every 

 crop examined. 



I am greatly indebted to Commander \\'alker not only for their 

 identification, but for many other facts which he gave me concerning 

 their life history-. 



The beetle proved to be Lochmcea siititralis, belonging to the 

 plant-feeding section of the Coleoptera. 



The Black-game, male and female alike, were loaded with these 

 beetles : on a very rough estimate, I calculated an a\'erage of about 

 300 beetles to each crop examined. I multiplied the probable 

 number of Black-game on the estate by this figure, and arrived at 

 the sum of 90,000 beetles as the daily ration eaten by this one species 

 of bird. 



In reply to my question. Commander Walker wrote : "As far 

 as I know, Lochmcsa sutiinilis has never been regarded as a destructive 

 insect." 



Some months later, I wanted to find a bird paper in a back 

 volume of the " Annals of Scottish Natural History." There are 

 nineteen volumes and no general index, so that a search must be 

 conducted volume by volume. While so engaged, I stumbled quite 

 accidentally on a paper by Mr. Percy H. Grimshaw with this title : 

 " Note on the life history of Lochmcea suturalis, a beetle destructive 

 to heather."* 



I will deal with this naturalist's view in the next section, under 

 the heading of food plants. 



* i8q8, p. 27. See also E. B. Poulton, Joiirn. Entomological Soc, 1908, " Insects and 

 other Foods of Black-game." 



