262 Destructive Forest Insects of Dumfriesshire. 



incision is made in the cuticle of the leaf on the left-hand side of 

 the mid-rib, and in this receptacle the egg is laid. The leaf is 

 then rolled, but how this is done I cannot say for certain, but it is 

 generally thought that one side is rolled first and the other side 

 rolled over it. I had the pleasure of being the discoverer of the 

 egg, it being thought before that the insect did not lav an egg 

 inside the case in the same Avay as other leaf-rollers. 



AHelabus Curculionoides (Oak Leaf-roller). — This leaf-roller 

 makes " thimble-cases " of the leaves, and inside of each case 

 there is an egg, loose, not under the skin of the leaf as in the case 

 of the previous species. The beetle is reddish-brown in colour 

 and somewhat like a lady-bird, but without spots. The attacks 

 are generally very slight. 



Otiorhynchus Picipes (Clay-coloured Weevil). — This insect I 

 found eating the bark of young trees in the company of the Pine 

 Weevil, but it does more damage to garden plants such as straw- 

 berries and raspberries than to forest trees. Its colour, as its 

 name implies, is a brownish grey and blends with the soil, thus 

 making it hard to find. 



Hylobius Abietis (Pine Weevil). — This insect may be called 

 the forester's worst enemy The damage is done by the mature 

 beetle, which gnaws the bark of young trees from 3 to 7 years of 

 age, sometimes on a young shoot eating into the wood itself. 

 When trees that have been newly planted are attacked, they 

 cannot resist the damage done and therefore die off. As these 

 insects generally appear in swarms the damage is often very great. 

 With older plants the damage is often not sufficient to kill them 

 but their vitality is impaired. When a bad attack has been made 

 the trees look as if they have been nibbled by rabbits, in fact in 

 many parts of the country at the present day rabbits are blamed 

 for the damage. The beetles that have hibernated throughout the 

 winter swarm about the beginning of April. These lay their eggs 

 on the roots of trees that have been felled for two or three years. 

 The larvEe hatch out in three weeks or a month's time, and feed 

 under the old bark till May or June of the following year. They 

 then pupate, appearing as perfect insects in June or July. These 

 late swarmers are not so destructive as the older swarm, as they 

 soon hibernate under tufts of grass or lumps of earth, appearing 

 the following year as the early swarm. As to remedies, the 

 setting of traps, made by laying a slab, slightly raised at one end, 



