THE TOWN-WOODS OF CARLSBAD (BOHEMIA). 159 
chiefly of elder, mountain-ash, bracken, whortleberry, etc.), 
showing that if the canopy be opened out much, the soil becomes 
densely overrun with weeds, just as is precisely the case in our 
British woodlands. 
Despite hard winter frost and damage from wind and snow- 
pressure already referred to, these woods are not unduly exposed 
to dangers of any sort. Where there are so many thousands of 
pedestrians, most of them smokers, there must always be a 
certain slight risk of fires occurring. But.the only case in which 
a serious conflagration seemed impending occurred on 28th June 
1818, and it was fortunately extinguished by a heavy rainfall 
during a thunderstorm. 
Fungous diseases are not liable to spread under a system 
which only removes over-mature and unhealthy trees, but 2czdium 
elatinum is not uncommon on silver fir, and WVectria cinnabarina 
is frequent on maple and sycamore. I saw no canker on any of 
the larch; but there was a bad attack of the larch mining-moth, 
which made the young flushing buds look as if they had been 
badly nipped by frost, in the middle of May (1905). 
Among injurious insects, the “ Nun” or spruce moth did a 
good deal of damage in some of the spruce and pine woods 
thirteen or fourteen years ago, when the devastations were being 
caused by it in Bavaria during 1890-92. Even now sample-plots 
are ringed with patent viscous tar once every two or three years to 
see if any of the caterpillars of this dreaded pest are present in 
the woods. But the best means of protection are the song-birds, 
with whose welcome notes the woodlands resound in spring, and 
for whose protection and increase thousands of wooden nesting- 
boxes have been fixed high up in the trees. The Pine Geometer- 
moth was also at the same time (May 1905) doing damage toa 
slight extent. 
The chief causes of damage of the above kind during the last 
ten years have been Pissodes picee and P. harcyniez, and in a 
minor degree P. fini and P. piniphilus (which are two of our 
British species); and trees attacked by the two first-named are so 
specially liable to also become attacked by the common Agaric 
fungus, that it seemed for some time doubtful whether the insects 
or the fungus were the primary cause of the diseased condition. 
The observations of the last three years indicate, however, that 
the insects are the primary cause of impaired vitality, and the 
fungous attack the secondary consequence of this; because the 
