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dark shining bronzy-brown, bordered by a creamy-white line wliich crosses the 

 body between the head and thorax and rnns backward down the outer edge of 

 the wing cover, ending on each side near the tip of the abdomen. A similar 'line 

 but yellower and twice as wide marks the edge of the abdomen beneath, the two 

 lines joining at the tip. The legs are a bright reddish-brown. The young or 

 nymphs are active feeders, and during growth may moult the skin four times, 

 when the perfect winged "bugs appear. 



Another useful plant bug is a very close relative of the green stink-bug. This 

 clay colored bug (Podisus serieventris) measures about 3-8 inch long by 3-16 in. 

 wide. The upper surface of the body has a very uniform, dull, bug color, varied 

 by the dull reddish triangle at the junction of the opaque and membranous por- 

 tions of the upper wings. At the tips of the upper wings are two dark brown 

 stripes. The lower surface of the body shows an even, light clay color, with five 

 rows of black dots running 'lengthwise. The legs, beak and feelers vary from 

 light gray to claret color. The eyes are nearly black. The upper surface of the 

 abdomen proper is marked with black and brown stripes. There is a sharp spine 

 or shoulder on each side, behind the head. The food of this "Under-lined 'Podi- 

 sus' " shows it to be accountable for numbers of larva of the Promethea moth, 

 Tent-oaterpil'lar, Fall Webworm, the Gipsy Moth in all stages, and several true 

 bugs. Another, the Modest Podisus (Podisus modestus) is so similar to the 

 preceding as to be scarcely told from it, but modestus is slightly smaller. The 

 legs are yellow and the general color slightly lighter. Mr. C. E. Olsen says it feeds 

 on the larva of the Maia moth, the Tamarack Saw-fly, the Steel-blue Flea-'beetle, 

 and also on the Clematis and Goldenrod. 



INSECTS AND THE FOREST 



J. M. Swaine, Ottawa. 



The forest area of Canada is of vast extent and provides an asset second in 

 importance on'ly to Agriculture. We have been accustomed to look upon our 

 forest resources as inexhaustible; and from the time of the earliest settlers down 

 to the beginning of this century very few gave serious thought to the preservation 

 of the timber. Within recent years, largely through the efiforts of the Federal and 

 Provincial Forest Services and the Canadian Forestry Association, the public 

 have 'begun to realise that our timber supply has been sadly depleted, partily by 

 cutting, but chiefly by great forest fires which have swept enormous areas of forest 

 and killed an incalculable amount of timber. The chief aim of our foresters at 

 present is to obttain control of the fire problem. 



It has often been said that the forest has three chief enemies — the fire, the 

 insects and the lumberman. If the forest is thought of as a naturaJl resource, we 

 cannot properly consider the lumberman its enemy unless his methods are unduly 

 wasteful. Our methods of lumbering have been wasteful, in the extreme ; but they 

 have improved greatly, and will continue to improve with changing economic con- 

 ditions. The two greatest enemies of our timber are fire and insects, and in a 

 very real sense the insects do far more damage than the fire. The majority of 

 our fires are ground fires. The trees are killed but not usually destroyed for 

 lumber. Unless a second fire sweeps through, the trees remain standing for many 

 years, and could be out for lumber a generation after the fire had done its work 



