300 



and balsam forests, and lasting for 3 or 4 years. The caterpillars 

 fed chiefly upon the buds and outer foliage of spruce, especially upon 

 the upper part of the crown, making the trees appear scorched, but 

 usually leaving enough foliage to carry the trees over the outbreak. 

 The results were almost complete cessation of annual growth during 

 the outbreak, the death of many tops, and attacks by bark-beetles. 



The injury to balsams was much more severe, thousands of trees 

 being killed outright as a direct result of defoliation, and other 

 weakened balsams being attacked by parasitic fungi and two bark- 

 boring beetles. The more destructive of these is the Eastern balsam 

 bark-beetle [Ips balsamcus, Lee], the adults and larvae of which 

 tunnel between the bark and the sap wood, checking the flow of sap 

 and killing dying and weakened trees. When very abundant, it 

 may even attack green timber, though it mainly breeds in slash and 

 fire-killed trees. The other is the Eastern balsam weevil ['^.Pissodes 

 duhius, Rand.] which oviposits in the green or dying bark, the eggs 

 being laid singly in punctures made in groups. It is a pest new to 

 the Province, but since it has been spreading rapidly, it w^ill doubtless 

 prove a serious enemy to balsam. 



Suggested remedial measures consist in utilising the threatened 

 balsam, since the dying trees are riddled by large boring grubs which 

 results in their death by the end of the second season ; and chiefly 

 in burning the balsam slash, which wall not only check the injury in 

 and near the infested areas, but will greatly improve the conditions 

 for the next crop. It has been discovered that in mixed sections 

 of spruce and balsam, the higher the percentage of balsam, the heavier 

 the budworm injury to both balsam and spruce ; therefore if the 

 percentage of spruce can be increased two most important results, 

 the production of more valuable wood and more healthy trees, will 

 be attained. 



Chrystal (R. N.). The Poplar Borer {Saperda calcarata, Sa,y).— Agric. 

 Gaz. Canada, Ottawa, vi, no. 4, April 1919, pp. 333-337, 4 figs. 



Saperda calcarata has been reported from many parts of the United 

 States as a serious pest of many species of poplar, and in Canada 

 occurs all across the continent from Nova Scotia to Vancouver. An 

 outbreak recorded in 1912 in S. Carolina resulted in the destruction 

 of several hundreds of Carolina poplars, the damage being discovered 

 only after several of the affected trees had been broken off by the wind 

 7 to 9 feet above the ground. 



The adult beetles occur on the trunks and branches of poplars 

 during August and September, the eggs being laid in crevices of the 

 bark. The young larvae feed for a short time between the inner bark 

 and outer sap-wood, tunnelling into the wood on the approach of 

 cold weather. The life-cycle probably requires 3 years for its comple- 

 tion during which time large irregular galleries are excavated in the 

 heart-wood. The pupal stage, which lasts several weeks, is passed near 

 the centre of the trunk or branch. The outward evidence of damage 

 consists in scars on the trunk and branches, sometimes black and 

 swollen, and sometimes exuding a quantity of sap, which attracts 

 butterflies, wasps, bees and other insects. 



