DECEMBER 263 



detriment should the last beech coccus expire child- 

 less. Nature has elaborated effective precaution against 

 a consummation so greatly to be desired. The coccus 

 itself is a shapeless sac about one twenty-fifth of an 

 inch long, armed with a sharp beak which it thrusts 

 into the bark of a beech and sucks the sap. Probably 

 it has existed unnoticed for ages, until a few years ago 

 some undetermined conditions favourable to its require- 

 ments caused it to multiply by millions of millions, so 

 as to cause the death of many fine beeches in several 

 counties and to threaten destruction of others. Aphids 

 and other plant-lice can be suppressed or kept in check 

 by insecticide sprays; but in making provision for 

 this precious coccus, Nature seems to have foreseen 

 and prepared against that danger, for she has given 

 each of these little yellow scourges the power of 

 secreting white, waxy fibres, which unite into a kind of 

 felt, making a covering quite impervious to poisonous 

 washes. 



LXIII 



Closely akin to the King of the Herrings or 

 oar-fish is the deal-fish or ' vaagmaer ' The Deai- 

 (Trachypterus arcticus), one of the rarest Flsl1 

 inhabitants of abysmal ocean to come under human 

 observation. Mr. William Evans, who recovered the 

 oar-fish mentioned above at p. 123, has been lucky 

 enough to secure (28th November 1908) a deal-fish near 

 the same place as the other was stranded, the first 

 recorded occurrence of this interesting species in the 

 Firth of Forth. There are difficulties, almost, if not 



