276 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



THE WINTER MOTH. 



The caterpillars of this moth are often injurious to oak 

 and ash, although it is looked upon more as a garden than 

 a forest pest. The attack resembles that of the oak-leaf 

 roller moth, both as regards the period and method of 

 attack, and the caterpillars also let themselves down by 

 threads, but in a more remarkable way. The peculiarity of 

 this moth lies in the fact that the females are almost wing- 

 less, and that the eggs are laid in late autumn or winter. 

 The females must crawl up the trees before the eggs are 

 laid ; and this offers a method of prevention, which is easily 

 taken advantage of by gardeners, namely, that of smearing 

 or placing tarred bands round the base of the trees, and thus 

 catching the moths on the sticky surface. In the case of 

 forest trees, however, this could not be done on an extensive 

 scale, and, as it is only occasionally that serious damage is done 

 to small areas, methods of prevention are outside practical 

 forestry. 



THE PINE BEETLE. 



Where pure crops of young Scots fir or other pines 

 exist, this beetle may do a serious amount of injury just 

 when its presence may be unexpected by those unacquainted 

 with its work. The pine beetle may be well included in 

 both those classes into which we have divided injurious 

 insects, as it not only uses the sickly or dying trees for 

 breeding purposes, but between its emergence as a mature 

 beetle, and its hibernation in the thick bark of old trees, it 

 spends a short holiday (as it may be termed) in the current 

 year's growths of Scotch fir, or in those of other species of 

 pine. It is in this respect that it proves most injurious to 

 the forester, for the shoots thus bored into die or are blown 

 off by the first strong wind, and, when this occurs year after 

 year, the trees become bushy and flat- topped, and their 

 height-growth seriously interfered with. 



The life-history of this beetle has been worked out 

 very completely, and by none more thoroughly than by 



