DESTRUCTION OF FOREST-TREES BY BARK-BORERS. 55 



In the Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for the year 1884, 

 Dr. Packard has presented a " Second Report on the Causes of the 

 Destruction of the Evergreen and other Forest-trees in Northern New 

 England and New York." In the Adirondacks of New York, he had 

 found many dead spruces and firs with their "bark filled with species of 

 Bendroctonus and To/iiicus, or allied genera. Living spruces with the 

 leaves fresh and green, contained in their bark, in June, the larva and the 

 beetle of Hylurgops, running their burrows so as to girdle the trees. In 

 Northern Maine the destruction of the spruces was still continuing, but 

 was apparently abating. 



Remedies. — As remedies for the ravages of these bark-borers, Professor 

 Packard has proposed: Stripping the dried bark from infested trees and 

 burning it. Cutting down dead trees and disposing of them for fuel. 

 Stumps remaining from trees recently cut, should be barked, and the 

 bark burned. 



In the Harz forests in Germany, where one of these bark-borers, 

 Bostrichus typographus, has occasioned such enormous losses, causing in 

 the years 1 780-1 790, the death of two million of trees, other methods for 

 arresting its continued attack have lately been resorted to, under the 

 direction of the Forestry Commission. They are thus stated: 



Experienced men are told off, to go through the forest and search for 

 the trees attacked by the beetle, and fell and bark them to prevent the 

 spreading of the insects. In most cases they are quite able to hold the 

 insects in check. These generally attack trees loosened in the roots by 

 wind, known after the beetle gets in by their foliage turning yellow. In 

 spring, when they are worst, healthy living trees are felled at the southern 

 margin of the forest in many spots., for the purpose of attracting the beetle. 

 Such trees are often full of them three or four days after being felled. 

 The trees attacked are barked, which destroys the larvae if not too far 

 advanced; if so, the bark is burned. To prevent any escaping while 

 barking, a cloth is spread under the stem. 



The above method, it is believed, could be employed with great bene- 

 fit for the prevention of our spruces and firs in infested districts. The 

 attraction that newly-felled trees have for many of the bark and timber- 

 boring beetles at the season of their oviposition has often been recorded 

 in our entomological literature. Note has been made in a preceding 

 page of the numbers of Monohammus confusor that were drwan to some 

 pine-trees for oviposition. 



Distribution of the Harlequin Cabbage-Bug. 



In the ist Annual Report of the State Entomologist some specula- 

 tions upon the probable future extension of the range of Murgantia 

 histrionica into New York, the Eastern States and the Dominion of 



