n8 PROTECTION OF WOODS AGAINST 



3. Pieces of bark twelve inches square may be placed on the 

 ground bast downwards, with stones to keep them in place ; 

 about fifty per acre are required. Children can visit these bark 

 traps daily and collect the beetles found under them ; the bark 

 should be renewed when it loses its resinous smell. The beetle 

 can be quite effectively dealt with if these measures are adopted. 



Pine-Beetle (Myelophilus piniperda). 



This is one of the commonest of our destructive beetles. 

 It is about | inch long, and dark brown or black in colour. 



a Yi b 4 /i 



Fig. 3. Myelophilus piniperda^ L. 

 a Imago. b Larva. c Pupa. 



Eggs are laid in spring in felled stems and dead or dying 

 trees of Scotch and other pines, large trees being preferred. 

 The grubs hatch in April or May, and the beetles appear 

 in June or July. The insect does two kinds of damage. 

 The grubs eat out galleries in the bast ; while the beetle itself 

 does even more harm by boring into the pith of young pine 

 shoots a few inches from their end, eating out a gallery an 

 inch long. These shoots fall off when the next heavy wind 

 conies, and thus the tree loses a great deal of its foliage. The 

 broken twigs may often be found in thousands lying on the 

 ground. Owing to the large fellings of conifers during the war, 

 this beetle has increased enormously and is a very serious pest. 



