OBSERVATIONS ON THE ENTOMOLOGY OF THE SCOTS PINE, 121 



From the point of view of the forester, I have heard it urged 

 that the felled area is no longer of interest to him. As a timber- 

 producing area, the clearing does for a time cease to interest 

 him; but if it does, it is because he is short-sighted. He 

 probably is going to replant it, and it is more than likely that 

 his clearing is not altogether isolated. If he is working accord- 

 ing to a working-plan, it is probably not far distant from a newly 

 formed plantation or other young woods. Now the felled area 

 has a direct bearing on the health of these plantations. In 

 the clearing a number of forest pests have been breeding, but, 

 as I have stated, they also feed. They do not feed, or only one 

 or two species of them do, in the felled area, but they do feed 

 in the newly formed plantation and the growing young woods. 



Trace the beetles from the felled area, and the following 

 migrations will be observed : — 



1. To the newly formed plantations. Hylobius abietis is 



feeding on the young stems and nibbling the leading 

 buds. Hylastes ater is feeding below soil on the young 

 roots and that part of the stem which careless planting 

 may have left below ground. 



2. To the young wood, 15-20 years old. P. bidentatus is 



feeding on the stems 3 to 6 feet above the ground. 

 AI. piniperda is boring in the leaders. 



3. To the woods aged 20-40 years. H. palliatus is feeding 



in the crowns, as is also Pissodes pini. 



Now this is rather an extreme case, but it is strictly true to say 

 that two out of the three of these migrations are going on from 

 the majority of our Scots pine clearings. The evidence is 

 available to any one who is interested enough to look for it. 



Thus far my observations have led me, but it is permissible 

 to look further ahead. From the young plantations, Hylobius 

 and Hylastes soon emigrate, but in the other older woods, 

 Pityogenes, Myelophilus, H. palliatus, and Pissodes pini are 

 perhaps preparing a new breeding ground by producing sickly 

 stems, and the cycle may be renewed. Of that, however, I have 

 no proof. 



The foregoing observations, it is hoped, may serve to in- 

 crease interest in our forest insects among those engaged in 

 forestry. They can be confirmed by any one who will take the 

 trouble to acquaint himself with the characters and life-histories 



