2144 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART in. 



2015 



to the Entomological Societ}' of London, discovered 

 in a living state, at the end of the month of March, 

 beneath the bark of a foreign fir tree, which was being 

 prepared at Southampton for a mast ; several of the 

 insects being at the time just emerging from the 

 pupae, and others still larvae. The perfect insect is 

 small (about 1 line long), pitchy black, with cas- 

 taneous elytra, retusely truncate behind, with three 

 teeth on each side. The galleries made by the fe- 

 male are horizontal, like those of the genus Hylesinus 

 (not vertical, like those made by the Scolyti), though 

 very often more or less curved or oblique. (See 

 /?g. 2015.; in which a represents the insect of the 

 natural size.) 



Dr. Heer has described another species belong- 

 ing to the same genus, under the name of Bostri- 

 chus cembree, which is found beneath the bark of Pinus Cembra. In the 

 month of July, 1835, this species, in all its states, was discovered in the 

 above-mentioned situation, at an elevation of 5700 ft. above the level of the 

 sea, "in valle Beversiana." (Oberv. Entomol., p. 28.) 



7'ps ferruginea is another coleopterous insect, of small size and depressed 

 body, which is found beneath the bark of the fir. 



The external Feeders consist, for the most part, of the caterpillars of various 

 species of lepidopterous insects, together with those of a few of the saw-flies. 

 Amongst the S^ihingidcB is to be noticed the /Sphhu- pinastri of Linnaeus, a 

 fine, but in this country very rare, species, the caterpillar of which feeds 

 upon ^^bies exceisa, and on Pinus syivestris, P. (Strobus, &c. This cater- 

 pillar is smooth, and at first entirely yellow ; but it finally becomes of a 

 fine green, with a brown dorsal line. The upper side of the body is terminated 

 by a curved, black, and horny tail. The perfect insect is of an ashy colour ; 

 the fore wings being marked with three short, longitudinal, black lines. It is 

 nearly 3J in. in expansion of the wings. Bouche {Garten Ins., p. 63.) states 

 that it is sometimes very destructive, when it abounds to a considerable 

 extent, occasionally entirely stripping the Weymouth pine of its leaves. 



Amongst the Linnaean Pombyces, Eiitricha pini is often, on the Continent, 

 a perfect land scourge, entirely stripping many of the pines, especially the 

 Weymouth, of their leaves. This large moth is of a greyish colour, with an 

 irregidar reddish bar across the fore wings, and a small white discoidal spot. 

 The caterpillar is hairy, and varied with white, brown, and grey; with the 

 anterior segments ornamented with two blue transverse stripes, and some red 

 spots on the sides. The moth and caterpillar are beautifully figured by Curtis 

 {Brit. Ent., pi. 7.), who observes, in his new edition, that the hairs with 

 which the latter are clothed cause excessive irritation when handled. The 

 caterpillars were found at the end of June; and the moths appeared at the end 

 of tlie following month. Rossmiissler gives old trees of Pinus syivestris as the 

 habitat of this species. The irritating powers of this insect are, however, 

 far surpassed by the celebrated pityocampa of the ancients, which is regarded 

 as tiie caterpillar of the ^ombyx Pityocampa Fahr. (genus Cnethocampa 

 Stephens), which resides upon the fir, the hairs of which are said to occasion 

 a very intense degree of pain, heat, fever, itching, and restlessness. By the 

 Cornelian law, " De Sicariis," the punishment of death was inflicted upon 

 those who should, witii malice prepense, administer either the pityocan)i)a or 

 the buprestis : — " Qui buprestein vel pityocampem, tanti facinoris conscii, aut 

 mortiferi quid veneni ad necem accelerandam dcderit, judicio capitali et paena 

 legis Corncliae afficiator." This moth belongs to the same modern genus as 

 the processionary moth, before described. (See p. 1820.) The moth is of a 

 greyish colour, with three darker transverse bars ; and the caterpillars are 

 dark or dusky grey, with a white lateral line. They are processionary in 

 their movements, but not so regularly so as the Cnethocampa processionea. 



