- 
May, or beginning 
‘ 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
arisen from the stagnation of the 
true sap in its descemt from the 
leaves ; and therefore in felling firs, 
-or other resinous trees, considerable 
advantages may be expected from 
stripping off a portion of bark all 
round their trunks, close to the sur- 
face of the ground, about the end of 
of June, in the 
summer preceding the autumn in 
which they are to be felled. For much 
of the resinous matter contained in 
the roots of these is probably carried 
up by the ascending sap in the spring, 
and the return of a large portion of 
this matter to the roots, would, pro- 
bably, be prevented: the timber I 
have, however, very litde doubt, 
would be much improved by standing 
a second year, and being then felled 
in the autumn ; but some loss would 
be sustained owing to the slow growth 
of the trees in the second summer. 
» The alburnum of other trees might 
probably be rendered more solid and 
durable by the same process; but 
the descending sap of these, being of 
a more fluid consistence than that of 
the resinous tribe, would escape 
through the decorticated space into 
the roots in much larger quantity. 
It may be suspected that the in- 
creased solidity of the wood in the 
fir-tree I have described, was con- 
fined to the part adjacent to the 
decorticated space; but it has been 
- long known to gardeners, that taking 
offa portion of bark round the 
branch of a fruit-tree occasions the 
production of much blossom on 
every part of that branch in the suc- 
ceeding season. The blossom in 
this case probably owes its existence 
to a stagnation of the true sap, ex- 
tending to the extremities of the 
branch above the decorticated space ; 
and it may therefore be expected, 
that the alburifous matter of the 
937 
trunk and branches of a resinous 
tree will be rendered more solid by 
a similar operation. 
T send you two specimens of the 
fir-wood I have described, the one 
having been taken off above, and the 
other below, the decorticated space. 
The bark of the latier kind scarcely 
exceeded one-tenth of a line in thick- 
-ness; the cause of which, I propose 
to endeavour to explain in a future 
communication relative to the repro- 
duction of bark. lam, &c. | 
T. A. Knight. 
An Account of the Genus Termes. 
From Shaw’s General Zoology. Vol.6. 
Generic Character :—Legs six, 
formed for running. Eyes tuo. An- 
tenne setaceous. Mouth furnished with 
twojaws.—F rom the observations of 
Degeer, and the more recent ones of 
Mr. Smeathman, recorded in the phi- 
losophical transactions,itappears that 
the male and females, of the genus 
termes, are, in their complete state, 
furnished with wings, though the 
labourers or neuters are destitute of 
those organs. The genus might, 
therefore, in strict propriety, rather 
claim a place in the order Neurop- 
tera, than that of Aptera, in which 
it is stationed by Linnzus. 
The European species of termes 
are very small, compared with those 
of the warmer regions of Africa and 
America ; and, instead of assembling 
in multitudes, as in those climates, 
are usually observed single. The 
most common of these is the termes 
pulsatorius of Linnzus, a diminutive 
insect, of awhitish culour, and which, 
from its general resemblance to 
the insects of that genus, has,by Der- 
ham and some other naturalists been 
distinguished by the title of Pedi- 
culus 
