29 



so greatly bored that they are unfit for the manufacture of timber. Those experienced in 

 the business, however, well understand the habits of the insects iu this respect, and hasten to 

 make the timber before it is destroyed. Pines sorched by the sprinj; fires must bt cut 

 down and made into lumber the next autumn. After one of these fires it generally happens 

 that there is a regular race between the lumberers and the beetles, the prize bcinj!; a grove of 

 white or red pine. I was told that Messrs. Egan & Co., lost £40,000 wortli of timber by 

 some unavoidable delay of a few months. Pino trees, when scorched, would be sound enough 

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



" When tiiere are only a few pines, as in the neighbourhood of Montreal, 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 fifteen or twenty on a single tree. On one occasion 1 saw 

 an extraordinary number, and entered an account of the circumstance in my note-book on 

 the .spot. It was on the 11th of September, 1857. I was at that time making some 

 geological observations in the neighbourhood of Lake Clear, in the County of liecfrew. 

 Following on the lumber road through the woods, I came to a place which had 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 J/. Coii/'a^iir, and many of the females were occupied in laying their 

 eggs. I tliink there were at least 300 of both sexes, and 1 saw several flying from other 

 trees thirty or forty yards distant. In flying, the body is not horizontal, but inclined 

 at an angle of only fifteen or twenty degrees from the perpendicular. The insects were 

 on all parts of the tree, and they did not appear to t:ikc a firm hold of the bark, for a 

 heavy blow with a 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 fifty or sixty 

 crawling around me at once, and had a fine opportunity to observe the very considerable 

 variation in the size of the individuals, and the length of the antennae. When two of them, 

 going in opposite directions, met face to face, a clumsy kind of fight took place, in which they 

 reared up and pushed against each other, until one or other fell over backwards. They bit each 

 other with their mandibles, but with no efi'ect that I could perceive. The females fought with 

 each other, or with the males, indificrently. There can be little doubt but that this tree was, 

 during the next twelve months, totally destroyed. If there were 150 females, and each laid 

 200 eggs, and half of these produced a healthy larva, then in one year this tree must have been 

 perforated by 1.5,000 galleries. I examined other trees in the neighbourhood, and on a few 

 only did I see any of the beetles, usually from one to four or five on each. I can only 

 account for the preference given to this particular tree, by supposing that it was in a better 

 condition for the nourishment of the larvae than the others, and that the instinct of the females 

 directed them to it. It is probable that nearly all the females for a considerable distance 

 around were thus brouglit together on one tree, and were followed by the males. 



" I cannot say whether or not these insects ever attack a perfectly healthy and sound 

 tree. I think they do not, and yet their ravages are certainly injurious to the commerce of 

 this country, as they destroy a vast deal of fallen or scorched timber which otherwise might 

 be brought to market at any time during several years after the trees have received a death 

 blow by tire or storm. I think also that thousands of trees, only sufficiently injured by fire 

 to throw them for a while into a weakly or unhealthy oomlition, would recover were 

 it not for the attacks of these formidable creatures." 



The only means of warding off' the attacks of these destructive insects is to manufac- 

 ture, without delay, all scorched or fallen timber, and to strip the bark off all saw-logs 

 that are left over a summer before being cut up in a mill. When the bark is removed 

 the female has no convenient and safe place in which to deposit her eggs, and thus the 

 timber escapes her attacks. 



VIII. Oberea tripunctata, Fab. — The Raspberry Twiq-Girdleb] 



We now come to the last insect on our plate ; the figure is n good deal exaggerated in 

 size, the length of the beetle being under half an inch, and its width one-tenth of an inch. 



