THE SPRUCE INVESTIGATION. 239 



DISTRIBUTING THE EUROPEAN BARK BEETLE DESTROYER. 



In May and June, 1893, I located colonies of the imported 

 beetle in the spruce forests on Williams river in Pocahontas 

 county, and on the Dry Fork of Cheat, in Randolph county. 

 During the first trip for this purpose, in May, I discovered that 

 the destructive pine bark beetle, in a large number of pine and 

 spruce trees examined, were dead in their mines, in the bark. 

 Dead examples of all stages of the insect, from eggs to adult,were 

 found in great numbers within the bark, but not a living ex- 

 ample could then be found, nor have I since been able to find 

 a single living specimen in the State, up to the present writing, 

 (January, 1896J 1 



END OF THE TROUBLE. 



When the destructive pine bark beetle was found to be 

 dead in all of the trees that had died the previous fall, 1892, 

 and winter of 1893, I announced it as my belief that the trouble 

 was over, and with the exception of a comparatively few trees 

 which were seriously injured by the insect in 1892, and subse- 

 quently died from this cause, there has been no pine or spruce 

 timber killed by insects so far as I have observed within the 

 last three years, 2 Therefore the accumulated evidence seems 

 to warrant the conclusion that, just as the destructive pine 

 bark beetle was the primary cause of the commencement of 

 the trouble^ so was its universal disappearance the cause of the 

 ending of the trouble. 



RAPID DECAY OF DEAD TIMBER IN ONE SECTION OF THE SPRUCE AREA. 



In the latter part of March, 1891, I was conducting some in- 

 vestigations in the spruce forests near Davis, Tucker county, 

 where I had been informed that the dead timber deteroriated 

 very rapidly and became worthless within three or four years 

 after. It was reported by some of the timber operators here 

 that in cutting the dead trees they often found them sound at 

 the base, while other portions of the trees were in an advanced 

 stage of decay ; also that the reverse is often found, decayed at 



1. Up to the date of publication not a living specimen has been found. 



2. Up to the date of publication, no dying spruce has been seen or reported. 



