130 ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BEETLES 



erythrocepkala) tend further to swell the nuruher of the enemies of 

 the pine tribe, no less by their annual destruction of the leaves of 

 the year, than hy their pertinacity of attack, causing the unfortu- 

 nate tree to draw upon the undeveloped resources of the next season's 

 supply, to make up the deficiency thus caused in the present. This 

 process, if repeated for a very few years, certainly terminates fatally 

 for the tree. The ravages of the insects we have just referred to 

 are, however, chiefly confined to the continent of Europe, while in 

 Great Britain their attacks, although they have heen noticed, are 

 not as yet to any great extent frequent or urgent. They have 

 certainly heen known to exist in Great Britain in several localities, 

 hut many of them appear not to he indigenous, so it may probahly 

 be assumed that their larvae have sometimes heen imported either 

 with seed or upon plants from the Continent. As some of the 

 varieties, such as Pissodes notatus (Fab.), already referred to, have 

 of recent years hecome more common in the United Kingdom, it is 

 prohahle that it has thus heen introduced. This remark applies also 

 to Aeanthocinus cedilis (Linn.), a little mischief-worker, called, in 

 some districts " the timber man." 



Thus we see that there are many species of insects whose 

 destructive propensities are confined to the leaves, hark, and shoots 

 of the fir tribe, hut there are also others whose operations are 

 directed to the annihilation of the seeds and cones. These are 

 devoured, whether ripe or unripe, with great avidity. To this class 

 helong Eiqnthecia togata (Hb.), whose larvae are very destructive to 

 the dried seeds of Scots fir, the Plujcis abietella (Za.), which, in 

 addition to tunnelling into the cones of Pinus sylvestris, Pinus mari- 

 tima, and other firs, and destroying their vitality, lodge themselves 

 in the decaying wood of the tree, and therehy hasten the process of 

 dissolution. 



The colour of all these insects at one period of their existence 

 so closely resemhles the hark and other portions of the tree, that 

 their detection is exceedingly difficult. Indeed, so well is their 

 presence concealed hy this means, that their existence upon the 

 tree attacked is first known hy numerous spots of resin heing seen 

 oozing from the hark. If examined carefully, each of these spots 

 will he found to cover a small aperture, in which the insidious 

 enemy has securely located himself. In this manner whole trees, 

 and ultimately entire plantations, are overrun and seriously damaged. 



The list of those insects which attack roots and subsist upon 

 them is fortunately less numerous and important. Their ravages 



