212 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



80,000 being sometimes found in a single tree, that it 

 is infinitely more noxious than any of those that bore 

 into the wood : and such is its vitality, that though the 

 bark be battered and the tree plunged into water, or 

 laid upon the ice or snow, it remains alive and unhurt. 

 The leaves of the trees infested by these insects first 

 become yellow, the trees themselves then die at the 

 top, and soon entirely perish. Their ravages have 

 long been known in Germany under the name of 

 Wurm trokniss (decay caused by worms) ; and in the 

 old liturgies of that country the animal itself is for- 

 mally mentioned under its vulgar appellation, " The 

 Turk." This pest was particularly prevalent and 

 caused incalculable mischief about the year 1665. In 

 the beginning of the last century it again showed it- 

 self in the Hartz forests — it reappeared in 1757, re- 

 doubled its injuries in 1769, and arrived at its height 

 in 1783, when the number of trees destroyed by it in 

 the above foi'ests alone, was calculated at a million and a 

 half, and the inhabitants were threatened with a total 

 suspension of the working of their mines, and conse- 

 quent ruin. At this period these Bostrichi, when ar- 

 rived at their perfect state, migrated in swarms like 

 bees into Suabia and Franconia. At length, between 

 the years 1784 and 1789, in consequence of a succes- 

 sion of cold and moist seasons, the numbers of this 

 scourge were sensibly diminished. It appeared again 

 however in 1790, and so late as 1796 there was great 

 reason to fear for the few fir-trees that were left*. 

 The seeds of forest- as well as of fruit-trees are doubt- 



" Wilhelm's Rccrealions from Nat, Hist, quoted by Latreille Jlisl, 

 Nat. xi. 194. 



