6 • THE BLACK HILLS BEETLE. 



Specimens of the bark-boring insects found attacking the hving 

 trees in the area mentioned by Professor Graves were sent to the 

 Department of Agriculture in August, 1898, by Mr. William M. Pratt, 

 from Piedmont, S. Dak., and by Mr. H. E. Dewey, from Lead, S. Dak., 

 and more specimens were sent in by Mr. Dewey in August, 1899. 

 These were at first identified as Dendroctonus rujipennis Kirby, and 

 as D. terehrans Oliv.; but in 1900 they were examined by the writer 

 and were found to represent an undescribed species of Dendroctonus. 

 Specimens of the same insect were also found in the collections of the 

 American Entomological Society, at Pliiladelphia, and in the United 

 States National Museum, labeled South Dakota, Utah, and Colorado, 

 the latter from Pikes Peak, July 10, 1900. 



In September, 1901, upon the request of Mr. Gifford Pinchot, 

 Chief of the Bureau of Forestry, and under the direction of Dr. 

 L. O. Howard, Cliief of the Division of Entomology, an investiga- 

 tion of the trouble affecting the timber in the Black Hills Forest 

 Reserve was made by the writer; and on October 23, 1901, a type- 

 written report was submitted to Doctor Howard and Mr. Pinchot 

 which, with additional data and illustrations, was transmitted for 

 publication in January, 1902, and was issued in that year as Bulletin 

 No. 32, new series, of the Division of Entomology. In this bulletin 

 the new species found to be the primary cause of the death of the 

 timber was described under the name of Dendroctonus ponderosse, 

 and certain facts in its habits and life history were presented, 

 together with recommendations based thereon, for felling and harlcing 

 the infested trees at a time of the year when the mere removal of the harHc 

 from the main trunk, without burning, would he sufficient to Tcill the 

 broods. 



In July, 1902, Mr. Jolm P. Brown, secretary of the International 

 Society of Arboriculture, issued a " Special Rocky Mountain Bulletin 

 on the Destructive Beetles of Pinus ponderosa," in which reference is 

 made to the destruction of pine timber in the Black Hills of South 

 Dakota and in Colorado by two beetles, wliich he designates as the 

 ''large destructive barkbeetle" and the "small destructive bark- 

 beetle," but he omitted their scientific or technical names. There- 

 fore it is not known to what particular species he referred, or whether 

 or not he had two or more species confused. It is evident, however, 

 that the depredations in the Black Hills were caused by D. ponderosse, 

 previously described. 



Mr. Brown recommended the remedy of felling and barking the 

 trees and burning the bark with the tops ; but his main argument was 

 for the protection of insectivorous birds. 



In 1902 Mr. J. L. Webb, special field agent in forest insect investi- 

 gations, assigned from the Bureau of Forestry, and working under 

 instructions from the writer, spent five months (May 28-October 30) 



