INTRODUCTION 



branches, for the sake apparently of some 

 edible bit — but I never saw a leading branch 

 damaged, and so never knew the tree to be 

 much the worse of them. 



"Lots of tips of the smaller branches 

 (chiefly the smaller ones, but not exclusively) 

 of the Scotch fir come tumbling down at 

 certain seasons. But this is not done by 

 squirrels. It is done by the caterpillar of an 

 insect.' The insect pierces the soft young 



I It is not a caterpillar, but the pine-beetle, a tiny 

 insect which burrows in the pith of the small twigs 

 and kills them. The squirrel may eat the young tip 

 or nibble the bark of a young twig, but he never bites 

 the branch off. 



" PiNBS AND PiNB-BSBTLBS 



"Toih4 Editor of ' Tfu Timtt ' 



" Sir, — In your paper of Saturday, p. 13, under the 

 heading of ' Pines and Squirrels,' your correspondent 

 mentions that he believes I could probably give the 

 history of the insect, which he notices the attacks of, 

 as causing much injury to pine shoots, which injury is 

 popularly ascribed to mischief caused by squirrels. 



" From the main points of Mr. Stillman's descrip- 

 tion it is presumable that this injury is caused by the 

 infestation especially known as the ' pine-beetle,' the 



