SCOLYTUS. 



187 



clocks, and other earth-boring beetles, depart from that form, but 

 when we come to look at the scolytus, the ptinus, and other 

 wood-borers, we can not but notice how very cylindrical they are 

 in their shape. 



Perhaps there is no wood-boring beetle which is known so 

 well as the little insect which is called Scolytus destructor. I am 

 not aware that it has a popular name that will distinguish it from 

 other small beetles which bore into wood. 



Scolytus. 



The accompanying illustration will probably call to the mind 

 of the reader the insect which now comes before our notice. If 

 he should have examined the bark of certain trees, particularly 

 that of the elm, he will often have seen that it is perforated with 

 circular holes, very like those which are drilled into worm-eaten 

 furniture, but of rather larger diameter. When I was a very lit- 

 tle boy and first saw these holes, I thought that they had been 

 made by shot, and in trying to pick out the shot with my knife,, 

 made the discovery that the holes were not due to fire-arms, but 

 to insects. The pleasure of the discovery nearly compensated for 

 the disappointment concerning the shot, the possession of which 

 seemed to my boyish mind to be a manly trait of character, and 

 calculated to raise me in the eyes of my playfellows. 



If the bark be cut through, and then raised with the knife, the 



