REPORTS BY THE HONORARY SCIENTISTS, 311 
then, will probably be most successful in the spring time, when 
the over-wintered beetles and earliest-issuing renew or proceed to 
their egg-laying, and also from August onwards, when escape will 
be at its height. 
Where the beetles have not yet got a footing, a timely and 
vigorous rooting out of all suppressed or sickly pines will go far 
to prevent injurious attack. 
As guides denoting attack we may mention :— 
(a) The bead-like drops of resin that issue from the wounded 
bark. 
(6) The drooping of the plants, with a reddening of the 
needles. 
(c) The little proboscis punctures, 
(d) In young or smooth-barked parts, on the finger being 
passed over the bark, little risings may be felt, or 
little ridges may be seen. These mark the places of 
larval tunnels or pupa beds. 
In another experiment I have proved that notatus breeds also 
in pine cones.! 
P. pint chooses for its egg-laying grown stems. At present I 
am experimenting with this beetle, and so far have indication that 
it is characterised by the long life and egg-laying of notatus. 
Woop-Wasps. 
Judging from the specimens sent and correspondence in the 
North British Agriculturist, observance of wood-wasps has been 
more frequent than usual. Wood-wasps are among the largest 
and most striking of Hymenoptera. They belong to the family 
Uroceride, characterised in the case of the females by a well- 
marked ovipositor. The two species of forest importance in our 
country are Stree gigas, the giant wood-wasp, which attacks 
spruce, silver fir, larch, and rarely pine ; and Sirex juvencus, the 
Steel-blue Wood- Wasp, which lays chiefly in pine but also in 
larch. These are thus distinguished : 
Sirexz gigas.—Female may reach a length of 14 inch, but is 
often smaller, specimens having been taken as small ag a little 
over half an inch. The head and body are black, except the 
first two and the last three segments of the abdomen, which are 
yellow. The abdomen ends in a spine, below which is the con- 
spicuous projecting ovipositor, consisting of a boring apparatus 
* See Transactions of the Royal Physical Society, 1898, 
