INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE SPRUCE. 223 
decays is noticeable from the statement that in autumn, when parties are exploring, 
the blazing of an apparently sound tree with the axe reveals the fact that the sap- 
wood is thoroughly gone. ; 
We have previously stated that Dr. Franklin B. Hough, the United States Commis- 
sioner of Forestry, visited this State last autumn and made an exploration of our 
northern forests, for the purpose of gathering information as to the extent of the 
ravages of this insect. In a letter to us, under date of May 6, 1881, he writes: 
“Tam well informed as to the extent of damages being done to the spruce timber in 
Maine and some places, and have been collecting information by circulars, correspond- 
ence, and personal inquiry for two or three years. The same mortality has been going 
on in the ‘North Woods’ of New York for five or six years, and kas been made aspecial 
study under State authority. In 1868 there was published a report by the French 
Government upon the injuries done to spruce forests in that country, the principal 
part of which I have translated for use in my next report. I amundertheimpression 
that so far as the ravages of the insect are concerned, the worst is over—at least such 
is the opinion of lumbermen with whom I have corresponded—although the reality is 
sad enough. It has not been relatively greater in your State than in New York, but 
the losses reach to a fearfully great amount in your State on account of the vreat 
abundance of spruce in your forests. As for the remediesemployed in Europe to check 
the ravages of insects in the spruce, they are altogether too expensive for us. We 
can only save what is dead, and the lumbermen are doing this as fast as possible; but 
notwithstanding this, a great deal will be lost. I have facts showing that like mor- 
tality has occurred long ago in other sections of the country, lasting a few years and 
then disappearing—as this will—perhaps being succeeded by a different growth of 
timber, as is observed in New York. The replies to circulars sent out last fall, indi- 
cate that the local extent of its duration will not last so long as apprehended.” 
Portions of the Adirondack region were, in 1876, visited by Mr. C. H. 
Peck, State botanist of New York, who thus reports on the evil in the 
Thirtieth Annual Report of the New York State Museum of Natural 
History for 1877 (Albany, 1879, pp. 23, 26) : 
While on a collecting trip in the Adirondack region, in July and August, my atten- 
tion was repeatedly arrested by the extensive ravages of the spruce-destroying beetle, 
Hylurgus rufipennis Kirby, of which a partial account was given in the twenty-eighth 
report. The green slopes of Mount Emmons, commonly called Blue Mountain, and of 
several mountains to the north of it, had their beauty, and their value too, greatly 
impaired by the abundant intermixture of the brown tops of dead spruces. The 
destruction was also visible along the road between Newcomb and Long Lake, and on 
the mountain slopes far to the north of this road. Again, on the trail from Adiron- 
dack to Calamity Pond, there was sad evidence that the little destroyer had invaded 
also the forests of Essex County. From what I have seen at Lake Pleasant, in the 
southern part, and from information concerning the Cedar River region, in the cen- 
tral part of Hamilton County, there is reason to believe that much of the spruce tim- 
ber of this county has already been invaded by the beetle. How much farther this 
destructive work has extended or will extend, it is impossible to say; but one thing 
is certain—it is still in progress. For the purpose of gaining more knowledge of the 
insect, I cut down, at South Pond, a tree that had recently heen attacked by it. It 
was about 20 inches in diameter at the base; the foliage was still fresh and green, and 
‘there was nothing, except the perforations in the bark, to indicate that it was at all 
atfected. The bark peeled from the trunk without much difficulty, the sap-wood was 
perfectly sound, and the heart-wood also, except a small portion in which there was 
a slight appearance of incipient decay. Longitudinal furrows, varying from 1 to 6 
inches in length, were found under the bark, and each furrow was occupied by one or 
two beetles. The furrows are excavated from below upwards. In the short ones but 
one beetle was found, and but one perforation communicating with the external air. 
