134 PINE. 
is the best and, indeed, the only way of thoroughly checking increase. 
Where trustworthy attention can be given, the plan may be worked 
out still more thoroughly by leaving a quantity of suitable rubbish— 
as, for instance, some lengths of felled Pine tops—about, and towards 
June examining these, and (if the maggots are found present) burning 
them. This acts well by attracting the beeties that are about, to 
where their mischief can be kept under supervision. 
“At present it would be very desirable to collect and burn all 
fallen shoots, on the chance of a good proportion being still infested ; 
but this does not act fully as a preventive, for the beetle (the H. pini- 
perda) also hybernates in rubbish—‘ fog,’ as it is sometimes called— 
which has fallen from the trees. Trusting that the above may be of 
some service, I am, &c., Eleanor A. Ormerod, F.E.S.”’ 
The following communication, consequently on the above corre- 
spondence in ‘The Scotsman,’ was sent to me on March 6th by Mr. 
W. F. Melvin, of Dilkusha, Montrose, N.B. In this it will be seen he 
reports the result of his official examination of the Fir plantations of 
the Burgh of Montrose to be that they are damaged by loss of shoots, 
in which the beetle ‘‘ seems to have taken shelter for the winter, and 
several hundreds of trees dying or dead have their bark riddled with 
small holes.” We have thus observation of another large district 
suffering what we may call wholesale damage; and I give Mr. Melvin’s 
letter and the following one almost in eatenso, as the other points 
brought forward therein are also such as it is serviceable to be well 
informed on. Mr. Melvin wrote as follows :— 
‘« Several letters in ‘The Scotsman’ during the month of January 
on the ‘Pine Beetle’ attracted my attention, and led me to examine 
the Fir plantations belonging to the Burgh of Montrose. As amember 
of the Town Council, I was lately appointed Convener of the ‘ Parks 
and Gardens Committee,’ and hence all the trees belonging to the 
Corporation have been placed under my care. I find that many of 
the Scots Firs and other Pines have been damaged by the beetle,—in 
fact, the ground is strewed by fallen shoots, in which it seems to have 
taken shelter for the winter, and several hundreds of trees, dying or 
dead, have their bark riddled with small holes. On stripping the 
bark I notice numerous larve or pupe in the small tunnels, soft pure 
white creatures from an eighth to one-fourth of an inch in length. 
Dr. Gunning, of this place, met me in the wood yesterday, and he is 
of opinion that these are the beetle in its various stages; but from 
your ‘Manual of Injurious Insects,’ I am almost certain that the 
larve of the Pine Beetle are not in the bark so early in the season. 
As I read your valuable book, the egg laid in April or May becomes a 
beetle in some four months, and then leaves the trunk for the tender 
shoots, in which it remains over the winter. 
