J.S4 B. C. £ntomological Society 



The technique of the control measures employed to combat these 

 depredations or epidemic infestations, as they are called, is supervised 

 by a forest entomologist employed by the Entomological Branch of the 

 Department of Agriculture. 



The duties of a forest entomologist are many and varied. He must 

 iiot only be able to tell in the field just what is killing a forest tree, and 

 maintain as complete a collection as possible of all forest insects for 

 identification purposes, but he must be able to recommend methods of 

 control and to apply them in the field. In order to identify many of the 

 tree killers in the bush, he must also be familiar with the different designs 

 of the egg' galleries. 



Most of the insects killing forest trees are beetles. As many of the 

 insects of all groups are injurious to the interests of mankind, we have 

 little hesitation in killing them, nevertheless the methods employed are 

 as painless as possible, in spite of the fact that many scientists insist 

 that they have no sense of pain. I remember my daughter bringing a 

 small boy just five years old into my study one time, where she showed 

 him some of the brilliantly colored specimens and the boxes of beetles, 

 both large and small. He was a very grave little fellow and looked at 

 them without comment for some time. Finally lie said. "Did you kill 

 all of them?" "No," I replied, "but 1 killed a great many of +hem. " 

 I was astonished to hear him ask, "Oh, I suppose their souls are all in 

 Heaven?" I do not remember what my reply was, but it probably was 

 not satisfactoi'v to myself or the child. 



There is considerable loss due to the attacks of various bark-beetles 

 in nearly all our Bi-itish Columbia conifierous trees. For instanci', bark- 

 beetles kill each year many western white pines, (Pinus monticola), 

 and in some districts in the province have become epidemic and have 

 killed the greater part of the white pine timber. Douglas fir (Pseudot- 

 suga taxifolia) is subject to attack by the Douglas fir bark-beetle, and 

 at least two sucli epidemic areas are now known to exist. Stands of 

 true fir or balsam (Abies) are dying here and there from bark-beetle 

 attacks. By far the greatest losses, however, occur in lodgepole (Pinus 

 contorta) and yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa) and are mostly confined 

 to the southern part of the interior. 



The largest outbreak in lodgepole pine is in the Yahk disti-ict in 

 the south-eastern part of the province, but various epidemic areas of 

 greater or less magnitude occur between Penticton and Nels(ui and be- 

 tween Penticton and Princeton, and east of Okanagan Lake. 



The losses in yellow pine have been much the most serious, owing 

 not only to the greater commercial importance of this pine, but also to 

 the virulence and long sustained attack of the bark-beetles causing the 

 injury. The greatest outbreaks, in which the loss has been excessive, 

 have occurred around Princeton, where it is estimated that 150 million 

 board feet have been killed during the past six years, and in the Cold- 



