ENEMIES OF CONIFEROUS TREES 259 



without any seeming diminution in the numbers 

 of the insect. One experiment with a small 

 infested area has been rewarded with good results 

 by lighting a fire to windward, and causing the 

 smoke of coal-tar to pass amongst the trees. This 

 might be worth trying in the case of fruit-trees 

 infested by particular insects. 



Pine Sawfiy [Lophyms pini). — Fortunately, 

 this insect is not abundant in the British Isles, 

 though on the Continent the damage it does in 

 the pine forests is by no means inconsiderable. 

 The insect may readily be recognised by its 

 wide, fiattish body, and usually dark appearance. 

 Having attained to fuU size in the trees, they 

 form cocoons among the foliage or on the stems, 

 and remain in this condition until the following 

 spring, when, in April or May, the perfect insects 

 make their appearance. The male is consider- 

 ably smaller than the female, while the full-grown 

 caterpillar, which is of a greenish yellow colour 

 with a row of black spots on either side, is about 

 I inch long. The remedial measures are not at 

 aU easy, especially when a large number of trees 

 are attacked ; but single specimens may be 

 entirely cleared by shaking the caterpillars into 

 a sheet placed beneath the tree. 



Wireworms. — These occasionally do a great 

 amount of damage in beds of seedling trees, 

 particularly conifers, and in some instances they 

 attack and destroy the seeds before germination. 

 In the case of young conifers they are gnawed 

 completely through just above or at the ground 

 level, the beds in many instances being strewn 

 with the debris. Seedlings of Abies nobilis and 



