11 



As an example of what a forester can do, I would cite two cases 

 which have come before my notice. One of these, a record from 

 Shropshire, shows that in thirty-nine daj's, from April 30th to June 

 6th, 1917, no fewer than 10,386 fJi/labins ahiftiH were captured; in 

 the other case a forester in D()rsetshire tells me that he captured 

 10,117 Hi/liibiiis abif'tix on ten acres of woodland from May to Sep- 

 tember, 1918. The numbers mentioned are far from insignificant, 

 and assuming that they represent but a small proportion of the 

 weevils wliich were present, one feels aghast at the possible destruc- 

 tion which might be wrought by so vast an army. 



Neither of the reports mentions Hylaxtea: their more insidious 

 attack was doubtless unnoticed, in one case their larvte were known 

 to be abundant, probably in the other case they were equally so. 

 Possibly they were likel}' to do even greater damage, for a careful 

 observer who examined one hundred dying plants in a forest in Scot- 

 land found that the damage was caused in 45 cases by Hijlastes 

 alone, in 27 cases by Hi/lastes and Hi/lobiiis together, in 15 cases by 

 HylnbiiiH alone, and the remainder bj'^ bad planting. 



In both the cases just mentioned Otiorr/n/nchiis picipex, F., was 

 captured or seen in numbers even greater than Hi/lohius abietis. I 

 am unable to say what is the extent of the damage they do, but I 

 have caught them gnawing the bark on trees, and it is said by Gil- 

 landers that he found a supposed case of rabbit damage to a quickset 

 hedge was actually the work of this msect. When they occur in 

 such vast numbers their activities are certainly worthy of investiga- 

 tion. Stro/i/idSDiniifi corijli, F., was also plentiful in one case, and 

 its known liking for the foliage of larch and other trees made its 

 presence undesirable. 



There are many other very common species of Coleoptera which 

 are highly injurious to forestry, for instance, the genus Pissodes 

 contains some well known enemies of pine trees and Meloluntha 

 vulgaris, F., in the larval state will make many bare patches in a 

 forest nursery. Even recently discovered species which are con- 

 sidered rare may be of importance. I am told on the best possible 

 authority that Tetropuini tjabrieli, Weise, which is quite a recent 

 addition to the British list, appears to be spreading all over the 

 country, and killing many young larch trees by means of its larvte, 

 which feed in the soft bast and cambium under the bark. Many 

 other species of Coleoptera might be referred to and far more detail 

 could be given did time permit, but some of the other orders deserve 

 attention. 



Among Lepidoptera the species most injurious to young conifers 

 in Britain belong to the genus Retinia, which will often destroy 

 leader after leader of Pinns sylrestiis and quite ruin the growth of 

 the tree ; Culenphora lancella, Hb., which bores the needles of Larix 

 eiiropaea, weakens the tree and makes it predisposed to disease ; and 

 Arfjyresthia atnwriella, Bankes, in many cases destroys the leader of 

 Larix curopaa and thus spoils the growth of the tree. 



