56 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



teresting, and was well illustrated by a number of colored draw- 

 ings of the insects described. Dr. Fyles' attention was first drawn 

 to the subject of forest insects by their depredations in the woods 

 of the parish in Quebec, where he was first settled. The careless 

 tapping of the maple trees by a former proprietor of his land 

 had made them the abode of horntails and beetles, while the 

 brush and fallen trees of the surrounding woods were 'itife:sfed 

 wnth many varieties of destructive insects. 



Dr. Fyles divided the insects under two great heads, namely : 

 biting insects, Mandibulata, and sucking insects, Haustellata. To 

 the former class belong the borers in the tree tn,mks, the twig 

 girdlers and the leaf devourers; to the latter, the cicadas, the 

 scale insects and the plant lice. It is difficult to tell which of the 

 two orders is more hurtful to vegetation. The insects which have 

 come from foreign sources are the most to b© dreaded. The 

 larch sawfly that destroyed the tamarack of our northern forests 

 is an example Of this. The Gyps}- ^Nloth in Massachusetts caused 

 an expenditure by the Legislature, in four years, of $275,000 in 

 the effort to exterminate it. The Tent Caterpillars and Tussock 

 Moths are well known insects, destructive to thejeayes of trees. 

 The white grub and the cicadas feed upon the -i-oots of plants. 

 The cicada is an interesting insect from its long sojourn under- 

 ground, lasting from three to seventeeii years ' E^ccpraJQg ipr the 

 species, feeding upon the roots of trees. Its loud stridulations'r^are 

 one of the most characteristic sounds of the summer. 



The borer&f(feja'!great deal of damage to timbe-r and as an evi- 

 dence of the manner in which they may be transportedi from place 

 to place. Dr. Fyles related the case of one which dropped from 

 the frame of a door in his own liouse, after having survived all 

 the processes of finishing the.wQQd,. , It|Jll,p,st,riQt.be suppQse.d that 

 nature has left these borers to multiply and w'ork their will wath- 

 out a check. There are a number of ichneumon flies engaged in 

 reducing tbjeir numbers. Insectiyoxovis birds and predaceous in- 

 sects under ordinary circumstances keep the spoilers within 

 bounds. And man may give his assistance to the same end by, 

 for instance, preserving the insectivorous birds. 



Prof essor Roth emphasized the importance of a study of for 



