INJURIOUS INSECTS 



than i in. long, makes up in numbers what it lacks in size, for it is stated 

 that as many as 80,000 have been found in one tree. The female beetle 

 excavates the bark, making a tunnel about 2 ins. in length, and laying 20-50 

 eggs as she advances. These are hatched in about two months, and the 

 larva? eat out galleries on either side of the main tunnel. They pupate 

 and emerge as perfect insects at the end of May in the second year. 

 Brushing the tree with coal-tar is said to have the effect of driving away 

 the perfect insects, but if the larvae are allowed to commence their ravages 

 there is but little hope of saving the tree. Other members of the genus 

 attack the Oak. 



The Fruit-tree Beetle {Scolytus rcgulowts) is a species which frequently 

 attacks Apple-trees, and in a less degree the Pear, Plum, Cherry, and Peach. 

 The insect seems to have a decided preference for sickly trees and parts of 

 branches where there is the least flow of sap. It is barely T \, in. long, and 

 black in colour, except the ends of the wing-cases, legs, and antenna?, which 

 are of a russet tinge. The eggs are laid in April in a gallery about }, in. 

 long, and hatch in a few days. There are at least two generations during 

 the year, and the winter is passed in the larval state. Not much can be 

 done in the way of prevention except to cut out and burn all infested 

 branches during June and remove all sickly trees. 



The Pine Weevil (Hylobius abictis) is a beetle very harmful to the Scots 

 Pine, Norway Spruce Fir, and other Conifers, as it feeds in the perfect state 

 on the bark of the young shoots. It is dull black in colour, with scattered 

 tufts of yellow hairs, and appears in the summer months (May to July). 

 It gnaws the buds and bark of the twigs, thus interfering with the develop- 

 ment of the tree. The evil is difficult to deal with, but the weevils are 

 sometimes trapped in small pieces of bark laid at regular intervals, and kept 

 in place by a stone being put over each. In sandy soils trenches are some- 

 times dug surrounding new plantations, and into these the weevils fall, and 

 may be gathered and killed. 



Other Pine- weevils are Pissodes notatus and P. Pi/ii, both of which destroy 

 the branches of Conifers by boring small holes in them and sucking the sap. 



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