206 Practical Forestry 



hedges on the Penicuik Estate, Mid-Lothian, were ravaged 

 by the insect in 1875. In Germany, however, the beech 

 coccus was noticed as early as 1849. It is probable that the 

 beech coccus also extends to the Weymouth pine, as at 

 Keston, Lord Derby's estate in Kent, several of these trees 

 were badly affected with an insect that appeared to me 

 identical with this pest, and other instances of the Wey- 

 mouth pine being similarly attacked have been recorded. 

 Since the appearance of the insect in Scotland it has spread 

 southwards rapidly, but it is only of late years that its 

 ravages have been felt severely, and that owners of wood- 

 lands have been driven to do everything in their power to 

 combat its injurious effects. I think I have nowhere seen 

 the insect so abundant as on the Burnham beeches, which 

 I visited in company with several members of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society at the request of the Lord Mayor and 

 the Corporation of the City of London. Here, speaking 

 broadly, all the trees are affected in a greater or less degree, 

 independent altogether of the age or health of the trees. 

 Amongst the beautiful beech woods of Hertfordshire, 

 where the timber produced commands a higher price than 

 that from any other station in Britain excepting the Chiltern 

 Hills, the trees are suffering severely. After a careful 

 inspection of many beech woods, I am at a loss to account 

 for the spread of this insect. Usually, in the case of injuri- 

 ous forest insects, the presence of dead and dying wood 

 and the general health of the plantations have much to do 

 with the attack, but this would not appear to be the cause 

 in the case of the beech coccus. Even old and diseased trees 

 do not appear to suffer more than the young and healthy 

 specimens, and at Burnham some of the youngest and 

 fastest growing specimens were by far the worst affected, 

 appearing in parts as if coated with drifted snow. Neither 

 would soil appear to have anything to do with the spread of 

 the insect, as on chalky, sandy and loamy soils, as well as 

 on shale rock, the trees are all more or less affected. I can- 

 not say that unhealthy trees are more liable to be attacked 

 than vigorous ones, for I have observed diseased trees to be 

 som times quite free from the coccus, whilst healthy speci- 



