2142 



ARBORETUM AND FRUIICETUM. 



PART III. 



V^ 



about 1 in. from where it had first entered." 2013 

 (Curtk Brlf.Ent. ,vo\.m. p. 104.) 2^7^.2013. shows 

 three longitudinal sections, or shoots, of Scotch 

 pine, withthe various perforations of the insects: 

 a, where it commences ; b, the aperture which it ^ ^ 

 makes after it has finished its excavation ; and c, 

 the end of the first and beginning of a second ex- 

 cavation." (Curtis, loc. cit.) Stephens states that 

 it is extremely detrimental to the leading shoots of 

 the Scotch pine, perforating them longitudinally 

 and transversely, and also injuring the wood and 

 bark of the trunk. This insect ( d.) is about 

 one sixth of an inch in length, of a cylindrical 

 form, and black colour, with lineate-punctate ^ l/^ 

 elytra. It varies to a pitchy red or dull huffish '^ 

 colour. 



Dr. Ratzeburg has given numerous details re- 

 lative to the history of this species, and H. ater 

 and angustatus, in the memoir above referred 

 to ; and Dr. Rossmassler recommends that trees infested with them to a great 

 extent should be cut down and burned, as the only means of saving the rest 

 of the plantation or forest. 



Many species of longicorn beetles also inhabit the pine forests, amongst 

 which ^'pondylis fiuprestoides Fab)-. (Gt/IL Ins. Suec, iv. p. 117.), Prionus 

 depsarius Fab. {Gyll., p. 116.), Lamia (Acanthocinus) ^Edilis Fabr. (J^dilis 

 montiina Servil/e, Gyll., p. 54.), and i^hagium inquisitor Fabr., are parti- 

 cularly to be mentioned ; the last, according to Rossmassler (p. 77.), attack- 

 ing old trees of yl'bies excelsa, but committing less damage than the other 

 tribes. Some of the species of the genus Callidium are, however, much 

 more obnoxious. C. bajulus inhabits the wood of the ^^bies excelsa, in 

 which the larva is nourished ; it is also very abundant in old posts and rails 

 of deal, in which the female deposits her eggs by means of her elongated 

 telescope-like ovipositor, and also in the rafters of houses ; and Mr. West- 

 wood has been informed by Mr. Stephens, that, at his residence in South 

 Lambeth, it became necessary several times to cover afresh the leaden part of 

 the roof, in consequence of the insects which had been bred in the rafters 

 eating their way through the leaden sheeting by which tliey were protected. 



The proceedings of another species of the same genus (Callidium viola- 

 ceum) have been described by the Rev. W. Kirby in the fifth volume of the 

 Transactions of the Linna^an Soc'wty. This insect feeds principally on fir tim- 

 ber, which has been long felled, without having had the bark stripped off; a 

 circumstance of considerable importance ; as, by taking off the bark as soon as 

 the trees are felled, the attacks of various insects, subsequently to be no- 

 ticed, might be prevented. The larva, as soon as hatched, proceeds in a ser- 

 pentine direction, filling the space which it leaves with its excrement, resem- 

 l)lii)g sawdust, and thus stopping all ingress to enemies from without. It is 

 chicHy beneath the bark that it constructs its galleries, which are more tortu- 

 ous and irregular as it increases in size : but, previously to assuming the pupa 

 state, it burrows into the solid wood to the depth of 2 in. or 3 in., and there 

 becomes an inactive pu[)a; the perfect insect generally appearing in the 

 months of May and June, gnawing its way out opposite to the hole by which 

 it descended into the wood. 



The internal Feeders which are found under the Bark, or the subcortical 

 tribes of beetles, are, however, those by which we find the greatest extent 

 of injury committed u|)on trees of the pine and fir tribe. The genus T6- 

 iniciis belongs to this tribe, containing numerous species, which, on account 

 of the ])eculiar habits and mode of burrowing, have been fancifully termed 

 l)riuter, or typographer, beetles. The type of this genus is the ZJermestes 

 typographus of Linnieus ; a small cylindrical beetle, one fourth of an inch 



