174 FOBESTBY WOEK 



Moths. 



Zeuzera Msculi (Wood Leopard Moth). The moth, a 

 rather pretty insect with white, almost transparent wings 

 covered with blue-black spots, is about 2J to 3 inches 

 across the wings in the female, rather smaller in the male. 

 The caterpillar is about 2 inches long when full fed, 

 yellowish- white, and lives in this stage for two or three 

 years, boring in all directions in the timber of Ash, Elm, 

 Sycamore, Birch, and Willow. I have also found one 

 specimen in a young Oak about twelve years old. 



Scale Insect. 



Apterococcus Fraxini (the Ash Scale). The white felt- 

 like scale is easily recognized on the bark of young Ash 

 poles. If a stone is drawn across it, the insects are crushed 

 and their blood tinges the bark with red. Scraping or 

 scrubbing the bark with steel brushes is often effective, or 

 the insects may be sprayed with paraffin emulsion in May. 



Fungi. 



Nectria Ditissima, described above, causes black heart 

 in Ash. 



ELM. 



Beetles. 



Scolytus Destructor (the Elm-Bark Beetle). Beetle 1 ^- 

 inch long, black thorax, with dark brown wing-cases. 

 The female makes a long gallery, usually vertical, in 

 which the eggs are laid. The larvae, on hatching out, eat 

 galleries in soft bark, curving towards either end of the 

 mother-gallery. Cut out all dead and dying trees.' 



