204 Forest Pests. 



autumn, which have been destroyed by these weevils : both the 

 European and Japanese larch, the Douglas and the Menzies, all 

 eaten by them. The life history of these beetles as given by 

 Professor Schleich is this : — They lay their eggs on stumps and 

 roots of cut-over Scotch fir and spruce (we have rarely found 

 them on the spruce stumps, and only where there is no Scotch 

 fir). The larvse appear in two or three weeks and eat galleries 

 under the bark down to the sap wood. You always find them just 

 about the top of the sap wood of a stump. At this stage they 

 do no damage. (Specimens were shown of the bark with galleries 

 made by the larvje, and of the larvae preserved in spirit.) They 

 pass the winter at the end of these galleries, and in the following 

 spring pupate, and after two or three weeks emerge as the perfect 

 insect (of which specimens were shown). As to remedial mea- 

 ■sures, we are told by all authorities the best is to root out the 

 trees instead of cutting them over ; but although this may be 

 possible in Germany, where labour is cheaper and the stumps may 

 be sold for firewood, it is much too expensive here. The late 

 Mr M'Corquodale, forester, Sone, recommended the following : — 

 " Allow the grass to grow for one year and then burn it when dry, 

 after which the planting may take place at once ; ' ' but if we are 

 to maintain a close canopy to the end of the rotation no grass 

 will grow the first year, and even if it did the remedy would be a 

 very dangerous one when only part of a wood is cut at a time. I 

 have found that even where a fire of brushwood has been kindled 

 on the top of a stump still, if there was the least bit left unburned, 

 there you would find the larvje the next winter. The other plan 

 is to allow the land to remain unplanted for two or three years, 

 by which time the breeding places will have died down and the 

 beetles left the place. But this entails loss of time, and in our 

 country allows a growth of whins, broom, and other weeds to 

 spring up which are expensive to keep down, and if not kept down 

 choke the young trees shortly after they are planted. It is very 

 important that all branches should be gathered and burnt as soon 

 as possible after the trees are cut ; and if the stumps are gone- 

 round the winter after felling and the bark taken off, large num- 

 bers of the larv£E can be destroyed, and so the beetles kept in 

 check. Traps of fresh bark about 12 inches by 6 inches, laid 

 down bark downwards, will catch many, as they seem to prefer 



