436 Billinprs on the Pine-horing Beetles. 



attacked by both .Tf. confusor and M. scutellatus, and within one 

 year are so greatly bored that they are unfit for the manufacture 

 of timber. Those experienced in the business, however, well un- 

 derstand the habits of the insect in this respect, and hasten to 

 make the timber before it is destroyed. Pines scorched by the 

 spring fires must be cut down and made into timber the next 

 autumn. After one of these fires it generally happens there is a 

 regular race between the lumberers and the beetles, the prize being 

 a grove of white or red pine. I was told that Messrs. Egan & Co. 

 lost £40,000 worth of timber by some unavoidable delay of a few 

 months. Pine trees, when scorched, would be sound enough for 

 timber five years afterwards, if it were not for the attacks of these 

 formidable destroyers. 



Where there are only a few pines, as in the neighborhood of 

 this city, it is rare to meet with more than one or two of these 

 beetles together. But in the great forests of the Ottawa it is not 

 unusual to find 15 or 20 on a single tree. On one occasion I saw 

 an extraordinary number, and entered an account of the circum- 

 stances in my note book on the spot. It was on the llth day of 

 September, 1857. I was at that time making some geological 

 observations in the neighbourhood of Lake Clear, in the county of 

 Renfrew. Following an old lumber road through the woods, I 

 came to a place which bad been burned over some time during 

 the preceding spring. There was one large white pine standing 

 on the sunny side of a small gently sloping hill. The height of 

 this tree was about 120 feet, and its diameter nearly 3 feet. About 

 30 feet at the base was scorched. It was 60 feet to the lowest 

 branch, and as nearly as I could judge, the foliage for 20 feet at 

 the very top, had turned yellow. The remainder was green and 

 apparently healthy. This tree was swarming with M. con/usovy 

 and many of the females were occupied in laying their eggs. I 

 think there were at least 300 of both sexes, and I saw several fly- 

 ing from other trees 30 or 40 yards distant. In flying, the body 

 is not horizontal, butinchned at an angle of only 15° or 20° from 

 the perpendicular. The insects were on all parts of the tree, and 

 they did not appear to take a firm hold of the bark, for a heavy 

 blow with the hammer, at the base, would bring down a dozen at 

 a time, some of them falling from near the top. While falling, 

 they did not attempt to fly. I had 50 or 60 crawling around me 

 at once, and had a fine opportunity to observe the very consider- 

 able variations in the size of the individuals, and length of the . 



