216 



ELM. 



ELM. 

 Elm-bark Beetle. ^Sculytus destructor, Oliv. 



'S'Wr 



Beetle magnified; nat. length, 1§ to 3 lines; workings in Elm-bark, showing 

 central mother-gallery, and maggot-galleries from it. 



This beetle is well known as causing much injury to Elm 

 trees by means of the galleries that it bores between the bark 

 and the wood, mainly in the soft inner bark, but so as also 

 to leave just a slight trace of the working on the surface of the 

 wood. 



The females may be seen early in June, making their 

 preparations for egg-laying by working their way along the 

 bottom of cracks in the bark, which they widen for some 

 distance before beginning to burrow, so that the real opening 

 of the galleries may be at some distance from the heap of 

 rejected matter or little heap of wood-dust that marks the 

 first point of entrance. 



The male is present for only a short time after the burrow 

 is begun, before egg-laying commences. 



