INSECT RAVAGES. 163 



of the tree, and followiDg the grain of the wood tbrougli a considerable 

 part cf its length. Perhaps not more than two or three per cent, were 

 thus affected, and of the several causes suggested to account for this 

 injury, such as frost, winds, lightning, &c., none are quite satisfactory. 

 Of parasites of the black spruce he mentions the following: 



Arcenthohium jmsiUmn,' a plioenogamous plant without true leaves, and botanically 

 related to the naistletoe. It friuges the younger iuternodes of the living branches of 

 trees growing iu swamps and around sphagnons marshes. It is not positively known 

 to kill the tree, but it probably sometimes does so. 



Feridei-mium decolorans, a fuugus in the leaves, which rupture and reveal a mass of 

 yellow du-t-like spores. Not comaiou, occurring on starved spruces iu the Adirondack 

 region. Appears to attack degenerate and feeble trees. 



The spruce is sometimes affected by a small plant-lonse, which attacks the tips of 

 Ihe Ijranches, and causes a transformation resembling green cones. It is closely re- 

 lated to the Adelges cocciveiis of Ratzburg and A. strohilius of Kaltenbach. It is found 

 iu abundance in Maine and elsewhere, but does not appear to cause serious injury. 



The spruce is also liable to attack from other insects, the most serious injury being 

 from an iosecfc known as the Uylurgus rufipennis (Kirby), which, beginning near the 

 ground and extending upward, perforates the bark and burrows under its inner layers 

 until it entirely kills the tree, and sometimes whole forests. These insect ravages were 

 experienced some thirty years or more ago in Rensselaer County, New York, and in 

 recent years in the wilderness of Northern New York. Trees less than 10 inches in 

 diameter are seldom attacked, and as these mining beetles usually prefer dead timber, 

 it is possible that the trees affected may have passed the vigor of life and begun to 

 decline in vital powers. 



It has been noticed that timber growing upon high lands is more injured than in 

 valleys, and that after prevailing for a few years the injury would cease, while an 

 abuudance of trees remained still intact. It has been suggested by Professor Peck 

 that the woodpeckers, attracted by an abundance of dainty food within easy reach of 

 their sharp beaks and barbed tongues, may have congregated in flocks sufficient to 

 exterminate for the time being this excess of insect life, and restore the balance of 

 nature. The abundant indications of their labors on the bark of the trees proved 

 1 hat they had been busy in great numbers, although flocks of these birds were not act- 

 ually seen at their labors. 



The pecuniary loss resulting from these insects has in some instances 

 been considerable. Although the timber itself is 'not injured if cut 

 soon after it is killed, the amount thus thrown upon the lumberman's 

 hands is sometimes in excess of the wants of the market, and altogether 

 beyond his means for using. An effectual remedy, so far as it can be 

 seasonably applied, would be to cut down the trees first affected, as 

 soon as the insects first appeared, and peel and burn the bark, Tbe 

 same class of beetles is almost sure of burrowing under the bark of 

 sound logs when cut, if allowed to lie some time without sawing, and a 

 better way in handling spruce timber is to peel off" the bark as soou as 

 it is cut, thus effectually preventing the injury to which it might other- 

 wise be liable. 



The spruce, in common with other evergreens, has at times appeared 

 to have suffered from climatic vicissitudes, as iu Northern New York, 

 and in portions of New England, in the winter of 1871-'72. The mor- 

 taMty was by some ascribed to autumnal drought, followed by severe and 

 protracted frosts, which appears in the case of the spruce to have im- 

 paired the vital forces and invited the attack of the Ili/lurgus, which 

 had not been observed in those regions within many years before.^ 



' Botanical description given in Twenty-fifth Report on the New York Museum of 

 Natural History, le72, p. 69. See also Professor Peck's article on the black spruce, 

 above cited, p. 12. 



- Tbe reports of Professor Peck, as botanist of the New York State Museum of Natu- 

 ral History, published in the Twenty-seveuth Annual Report, p. 75, and the Tweuty- 

 eighth Report, p. 32, contain much information upon this subject. The bombyx or 

 lasiocamp of the pine has been abunadnt within a few years in the pineries of North- 

 ern Germany. By this cause, within a period of ten years, 41,642 hectares of pine have 

 been invaded and 10,244 completely killed, 8,6.")4 half spoilt, and 22,794 badly injiued. 

 Hence 22.01.5,w59 cubic meters have been prematurely v/orked, at a depreciation of 

 about $168,980. The sum of §329,800 had been speut in remedies of various kinds. 



