UNDER THE BARK. 47 



likely will be, some insect which the searcher never 

 expected to find, and for which he has been long look- 

 ing. Without further preface I will give an account 

 of a few hours just spent in looking under the bark. 



Close to my house only across the road, indeed 

 there is a piece of ground which at one time was 

 thickly planted with oak, birch, and fir trees, but which 

 has been of late years partially cleared ; the stumps 

 of the trees being in most cases left standing, so as to 

 project a foot or so above the ground. These trees are 

 on the upper part of the ground, while on the lower, 

 through which runs a tiny but permanent brooklet, 

 some willow trees are planted, one or two of them being 

 very old. In this ground I lately spent between two 

 and three hours, armed with a mortice chisel, a pair 

 of forceps, and a laurel-bottle, i.e., a bottle in which 

 are some young crushed laurel leaves, the odour of 

 which is fatal to beetles, and prevents them from eat- 

 ing each other. At this time of year, however, no 

 young laurel leaves are sufficiently grown, so I had to 

 make a substitute for them by putting a little Easter's 

 insect powder at the bottom of the bottle, and covering 

 it with a finely perforated card. This plan answered 

 so well that I shall try it through the season, for not 

 only was the odour of the powder fatal to the insects, 

 but it did not stiffen their limbs, which is the result of 

 laurel-leaf vapour. 



As I have already mentioned, this is a good time 

 for searching under the bark. The severe frosts of 



