THE LA.NDES OF GASCONY. 1 67 



to the expense involved a sum that is proportional to the extent 

 of their properties. In such cases the surface of the soil on 

 either side of the roads is cleared of all growth so that an 

 absolutely bare stretch with a breadth of 15-20 metres (50-65 ft.) 

 is obtained. It appears that some measure of protection might 

 be obtained by enforcing the existing article of the civil code, 

 which forbids planting of trees within 2 metres (6| ft.) of the 

 boundary running between two adjacent properties. 

 Meanwhile the fires continue to occur. 



20. The Six-Toothed Bark Borer of the Spruce, 

 Pityogenes (Tomicus) chalcographus, L., and how 

 to recognise it. 



( With Plates.) 



By R. Stewart MacDougall, 

 Honorary Consulting Entomologist to the Society. 



In the autumn of 1919 my colleagues, Mr J. L. Pike and 

 Mr D. C. Fergusson, gave me specimens of this beetle which 

 they had collected in the summer at Dunkeld. Dr J. W. Munro 

 records, in Bulletin No. 2 x of the Forestry Commission, that 

 P. chalcographus was observed at Dunkeld breeding in fallen 

 spruce stems and on suppressed trees of 6 years old and 

 upwards. In the first week of May of this year near Birnam 

 I found the beetle at work on a small spruce in association with 

 Pityogenes bidentatus, and at work on the top of a felled 20-year- 

 old Scots pine in which Tomicus acuminatus was also tunnelling. 

 With Mr D. C. Fergusson and Mr F. O. Bain we got on 

 Jhe same Scots pine, on a branch 3 inches in diameter, 

 P. clialcographus and Pissodes pint at work. Later in May 

 several of my students brought me chalcographus in all stages 

 under the bark of spruce from the same area. 



P. chalcographus, believed to be scarce in Britain and very 

 local in its distribution, may turn out — as with other forest 

 insects considered rare until better knowledge and skilled 

 intensive search proved them at least fairly common — to be not 

 so rare. The beetle is very small and needs close examination 

 for its determination, but with keen eyes and a pocket-lens and 



1 This Bulletin, Survey of Forest Insect Conditions in (he British Isles, 1919, 

 gives an excellent and timely account of our chief forest insects, and should 

 be in the hands of all foresters. — R.S.M. 



