PINE BEETLE. 65 
nurseries for the whole summer, but it will be necessary to take down 
the trap trees before the young beetle begins to escape. I found young 
beetles fully developed by the beginning of June, so that my first set 
traps will require to be taken down, stripped of the bark, and burned 
by the first of June, and the beetles that escaped, or that have not 
begun to breed, will find the traps prepared in March in condition for 
them, and they seem to have no difficulty in finding out the trees that 
are in condition for them.’’—(J. C.) 
The following notes from Mr. Clark’s report give some of his 
personal observations as to winter habitat of the beetles which have 
been boring the Pine shoots, and it will be noticed that he doubts 
whether hybernation of beetles does (as has been sometimes stated) 
take place ‘‘amongst fog” or ‘forest rubbish.” Possibly this may 
depend on local conditions. I have never had the opportunity of 
investigating the point myself, and Mr. Clark being evidently a very 
careful observer, I give his observations on this point, and also on the 
holes giving exit or access to the mother beetle’s tunnel, verbatim, 
precisely as he favoured me with them :— 
‘‘T think the beetle ean only live in winter when it is comfortably 
housed in the annual shoots of the Fir tree. I have never seen them 
‘amongst fog’ or ‘forest rubbish,’ and as far as I have been able to 
follow them, they live only in the annual shoots or the twigs of one 
year’s growth from September till April. In the beginning of April 
many of the beetles leave their winter home, and make fresh attacks 
upon other twigs. About the middle of the month they appear in 
pairs on the nursery tree, when they make their way under the bark 
together, and cut out the hatching tunnel from three to five inches 
long. The tunnel is usually slightly curved at both ends. Between 
the entrance hole and the escape hole they usually make two other 
holes, and sometimes only one; at other times three or four. These 
holes are made from the tunnel outwards to about one-sixteenth of an 
inch of the outer surface of the bark, making an opening out less than 
half the diameter of the hole, and this little opening has threads of 
bark left over the mouth of it. The purpose of the hole seems to be 
to admit air and keep out all enemies during the time the eggs are 
hatching. The entrance hole is closed, and so also is the exit hole. 
I have not been able to follow the old pair after they leave their first 
nest. I have found from fifty to one hundred and fifty grubs making 
their way from the sides of the breeding-tunnel. ‘The perfection of 
the tunnel can only be seen before other pests find their way into it. 
«There are a great host of followers, whose names I do not know, 
who feed on the deposit, the decaying matter, and often on the pupa. 
I compute that one average-sized nursery tree in the best condition 
produces about twenty thousand young beetles. 
F 
