Reports to the Board of Agricittture. 39 



iviMnted from Custle Eden, Duiliam, Ity Mr. II. Hunlon, ttf the Castle, 

 antl a recjuest sent t«) the lioanl uf Aj^'riculture fur infunnatinn. Mr. 

 Bifnloii, wrilinj^ later to me nt the British Museum, says : " I have 

 now noticed a lar^'e iniml>er of trees attacked more or less in the same 

 way. It looks like a ivi^'ular epidemic, as it certainly has not ai»|)eared 

 in the same way for the last few yeai-s. My foiuster tells nn* that 

 thry had the s;ime sort of epidemic on the Tyne, or in Xorthumlx-r- 

 land, some fifty ywirs ago (I think) and lost a lot of fine beeches." It 

 has also been rejxirted to the Hritish Museum from L<mgwillow Hall, 

 Mor^H'th, from whence the ft»llowing note waa sent : " At a distance 

 the tree looks as if it luul been whitewasheil ; when it Is scraped off, 

 the yellow eggs or insects are to be seen. Two trees are covered on 

 the E. side of their stems. I remember a beech — not an old tree — in 

 Gloucester which was affected in the same way, and died after a 

 time. It smells something like the larva of a Goat Moth." 



This .scale insect chiefly attacks the trunk, but may ascend into 

 the boughs. The females give rise to larvie in September, and they 

 envelop themselves in a white cottony secretion, and then CASt off 

 their autennie and legs and remain for the rest of their lives devoid of 

 such appendages. The adult female is a small orange-yellow sac, 

 surrounde*! by a white mass ; the.se white patches often unite and 

 form large felted masses, l»eneath which the larvie burrow and develop. 

 These scale in.sects suck out the sap very givedily, and often do much 

 harm when present in large numbers. In time they cau.se the b;irk 

 to iH?el off the tree and then decay and death may ensue. Large 

 numl»ers of trees are attacked in jiarts of Surrey; it is also common 

 in Cheshire, Huntingdonshire, and probably occurs in small numl>ers 

 wherever the l)eech grows in Eun>pe. 



The trees should Ite sprayed in the summer with strong paraflin 

 emul.>;ion twice at an interval of two days. In the winter they shouUl 

 be sprayed with caustic alkali wash. 



The methotl of scnd)bing the tree trunks is loi> laborious if the 

 attack is on a large .scale, and thoi-ough spraying with warm iKiniffin 

 emulsion is cpiite effective. 



Mr. Burbidge. of the B<»tanic Gardens, Dublin, ha.s informed Mr. 

 Newstead that the weei>ing l>eech, of which there are two kinds, 

 grafted on common beech stocks is not afTecte*! by this coccus. Tiie 

 stock may thus be attacked, but the weeping scion is not. 



Tliis insect is not attacked by birds and ver)' rarely by insect 

 parasites, acconling to Mr. Xewstead. 



Should the trees be cut down they should be burnt at once. 



