50 FOREST ENTOMOLOGY. 



Family ANOBIID^. 



The student of forest entomology, as a rule, finds his insects either 

 on sickly or healthy living plants, but the members of this family are 

 all found on dead wood, and are, therefore, apparently only indirectly 

 connected with forestry, but they are nevertheless often very 

 important as regards estate buildings. Perhaps the most familiar 

 examples of the injuries of beetles belonging to this family are the 

 "holes" or "worm-eaten" furniture in our cottages, and the injuries 

 of a similar character done to timbers in our buildings. Again, in the 

 forest proper, we find small holes in dead thorns, and also on those 

 portions of old - standing trees where the wood is often dead on 

 one side. 



"With regard to these injuries in roofing timber, it is rather remark- 

 able that home-grown timber should be more seriously affected than 

 foreign timber. Hitherto I have not found any special reason 

 assigned for this. It may be that in home timber more of the sap- 

 wood is used than in foreign timber — for, as a rule, insects do not 

 attack the heart-wood ; or another explanation may be in the respective 

 methods of seasoning. 



There is nothing in the general appearance of the workings which 

 can suggest any distinction of species beyond the size of the 

 exit - holes. 



Judeich and j^itsche ^ consider this group important in forest 

 entomology, and therefore divide it in the following manner, accord- 

 ing to the damage done by the respective species : — 



I. The larvai inhabit the bark of old stems without particular 

 injuries. 



II. The larvpe live in still standing trees, whose timber they tecli- 

 nically injure. 



III. The larvfe inhabit the upper branches, and their injuries often 

 cause death. 



IV. The larVcT gnaw the young shoots, and thus destroy them. 



V. The larvfe inhabit and destroy coniferous cones. 



A"I. The larvae destroy comparatively old worked dry wood, planks, 

 baulks in the wood stores, house utensils, furniture, &c. 



This biological arrangement, though departing from the systematic, 

 is a very convenient one to the forester of this country, more especially 



' Forstinsektenkunde, vol. i. p. 343. 



