82 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



at an average of $5,000,000 per year ; by bark and timber beetles of the Scolytidaj family 

 causin^T defective wood in felled timber, $1,000,000, and by the same in timber injured 

 by fire's and other causes, $1,000,000 ; by the Columbian timber beetle to standing and 

 livin" timbers, an average of $1,000,000 per year; by the oak timber worms and the 

 carpenter worms to the different species of oak, an average of $2,000,000 per year ; to 

 chestnut timber by the chestnut timber worm, which is rendering one of the most valu- 

 able woods almost w orthless, an average of $1,000,000; by wood borers of the family 

 Cerambycida; to standing timber injured by fire, $2,000,000 ; to felled timber and saw 

 logs by the same kind of insect, $2^000,000 ; by other wood-infesting insects to standing 

 and felled timber, $2,000,000 ; by foilage-infesting insects to living forest and shade trees, 

 $3,000,000 ; by the white pine weevil, plant lice, scale insects, etc., to young forest 

 growth, $1,000,000 ; by the powder-post beetles (Ptindse) to forest products, such as 

 seasoned handles, spokes, hoop-poles, building material, etc., $100,000, and by miscellan- 

 eous insects not included in the above estimates, $3,000,000 — a total of $25,000,000 , 

 direct annual loss from insect ravages, which is without doubt a low estimate. 



To the above could be added the loss to manufacturers in manufacturing and dis- 

 posing of defective material, to consumers from the use of the same, and to the indirect 

 loss to the country in the diminished forest area due to insect ravages ; all of which, 

 could it be estimated in dollars and cents, would doubtless equal at least ten per cent, of 

 the total value of the annual forest products of wood material in this country, or about 

 $100,000,000 annually. 



With Further Knowledge ox the Subject Much of the Loss can be Prevented. 



Probibly one of the principal reasons why the economic study of forest insects has 

 been neglected in this country is the prevalent belief that few, if any, practical methods 

 can be found to prevent loss from their injuries. It is true the methods used to prevent 

 loss from the attack of farm, garden, and fruit insects can not, as a rule, be successfully 

 used against those afi'ecting forest growth ; neither can many of the successful European 

 methods of combating fore'st insects be adopted in this country. But there are simple, 

 practical methods known which, if better understood by forest owners and manufacturers 

 of forest products and properly applied by them, would prevent the annual loss of many 

 millions of dollars' worth of timber. 



Some of the results recently obtained and facts determined in the investigations now 

 in progress in West Virginia in reference to the proper time to fell timber to prevent 

 detriroental injury by insects, the utilization of defective material to the best advantage, 

 and the introduction of predaceous and parasitic insects to prevent the undue increase of 

 destructive species lead us to believe that many of the more serious troubles can be easily 

 controlled when we learn more of the habits of the insects and the various conditions, 

 favorable and unfavorable, for their development. 



Additional Knowledge and More Special, Original Work Necessary. 



Further original research and additional published knowledge are sadly needed in 

 this branch of economic entomology. As compared with the knowledge of insects affect- 

 ing other economic plants, scarcely anything is known of the life history and habits of 

 even our commonest forest-tree insects. Consequently, the field for original work in 

 forestry entomology is a broad one, rich in interesting material as well as in possibilities 

 of important discoveries. 



One of the most important aids toward advancement would be, in our opinion, care- 

 fully prepared monographs of the insects known to infest the different economic forest 

 trees, on a similar plan to that adopted by Professor Forbes in his recently issued part 

 of "A Monograph of insects injurious to Indian Corn." 



Previous to the undertaking of work of this kind, however, further knowledge is 

 necessary in reference to the food habits of the insects found upon or within the different 

 host plants, and whether they are destructive, detrimental, beneficial, or neutral in their 



