THE SIREX AND THE PINE-TREE. 313 



it. It is thought by many naturalists that the Sirex never 

 attacks growing trees, but restricts itself to those which are 

 either dead or dying. The late Mr. Waterton was of this 

 opinion. Shortly before liis lamented death he showed me two 

 fir-trees which he had ' girdled' in order to kill them, for the 

 purpose of seeing whether or not the Sirex would attack them. 

 Unfortunately, the accident from which he died put a stop to 

 the experiment. 



It is, at all events, certain that the Sirex does exist in dead 

 timber, and notliing is more common than to see a newly 

 erected summer-house absolutely infested by the Sirex, which, 

 although liarmless enough, looks so like a hornet that scarcely 

 any persons who are not practical entomologists can believe 

 that an insect so formidable in appearance, and armed with 

 so huge a sting, can be anything but dangerous. 



In Curtis' ' British Entomology ' it is mentioned that the 

 Sirex has made its appearance in York Minster, a munber of 

 the males having been captured as they were flying about the 

 tower ; and Mr. Curtis took occasion to prognosticate danger 

 to the tower, not only from the weakening of the timber, but 

 from its increased liability to combustion, owing to the nume- 

 rous tunnels with whicli it is perforated. 



I have quite a collection of these insects, sent to me by 

 persons who have found them in newly-panelled rooms, in 

 summer-houses, and similar localities, and who have been quite 

 alarmed at their presence. These, however, mostly belong to 

 another species, Sirex gif/cts, the female of which is yellow and 

 black, like the male, and which therefore looks much more 

 like a hornet than its relative, Sirex juvencus. It is really a 

 splendid insect. One that I have taken at random from a box 

 measures an inch and a half from the head to the end of the 

 tail, the spread of wing is two inches and three quarters, and 

 the boring apparatus, which is as large as a ' No. 5 ' needle, is 

 rather more thnu an inch in length, so that if people mistake 

 it for a poison-bearing sting, they are likely to be afraid of the 

 insect. 



The colouring of this insect is peculiarly bold. The head 

 is thickly pimctured, and deep black, except a patch of bright 

 yellow behind the eyes. The thorax is also black, punctured, 

 and covered with a coating of line black down. The abdomer 



