INSECT ATTACKS AND REMEDIES 123 



days. Spraying with " XL All " insecticide 

 or petroleum emulsion is the best remedy. 



The beech coccus (Cryptococcus fagi) is a 

 small yellow insect about the twenty-fifth 

 part of an inch in length, wingless and legless, 

 and it effectually shields itself by constructing 

 around it a white, waxy substance not unlike 

 cotton-wool. These insects multiply in enor- 

 mous numbers and, having attached themselves 

 to a tree, suck the juices of the cambium 

 layer. Where the insect abounds, the beech 

 soon begins to show signs of the attack in the 

 thin foliage, peeling of the bark, and, when 

 the attack is aggravated, the death of the tree. 

 Hundreds of beech trees have succumbed 

 to the attack of this pest in Hertfordshire 

 and other parts of England. The historic 

 Burnham Beeches, which a few years ago were 

 in danger of destruction, have fortunately 

 been saved by spraying with paraffin and soft 

 soap, an almost impossible remedy where the 

 trees over a large area are affected. 



Where oak trees are cultivated, the oak-leaf 

 roller moth (Tortrix viridana) is usually present 

 about the beginning of June. It is a very 



