which would be impossible without being acquainted with its figure 

 and habits. 



The perfect insects I have frequently met with^ in dry weather 

 during the spring, even in the streets of London ; and Mr. Mae 

 Leay informs me that in warm days he has seen them flying about 

 the trees in the Birdcage Walk in great abundance : from March 

 to September the female may be found upon the trunks of elm- 

 trees, making her way through the bark ; after which she pro- 

 ceeds between the bark and the wood, forming a passage and 

 depositing her eggs on each side in her course until she is ex- 

 hausted, when she dies, and may generally be found at the 

 extremity of the channel : when the eggs, which are deposited 

 very close to each other, hatch (as Mr. MacLeay informs us) the 

 larvae begin to feed, working nearly at right angles from the path 

 of the parent, proceeding almost parallel to each other, as repre- 

 sented in the engraving. The larvse are to be found alive in 

 January, I am informed by a lady who reared them : it is therefore 

 probable they are working during the whole of the winter, when, 

 the sap of the tree being down, the bark adheres less firmly, the 

 grub works with greater facility, and the mischief is consequently 

 augmented. 



Our insect inhabits the elms of Prance and Germany as well as 

 England, especially in the neighbourhood of Paris and London, 

 where they most abound, owing probably to the absence of birds 

 and reptiles in such situations. Erom recent observations the 

 mischief has spread to Kensington Gardens, the Eegent's Park, 

 and Hampstead, which is not to be wondered at when we consider 

 the multitudes annually produced, and the facility with which the 

 insect flies. 



" The devastation (says Mr. MacLeay) committed by these 

 animals is at times so great, that it is clearly worth while to make 

 experiments to obviate it ; although it is difficult to conceive how 

 such experiments can ever be made philosophically by persons who 

 do not in the first instance make themselves acquainted with the 

 natural history of that particular species of destructive insect 

 w^hicli may have occasioned the mischief." I cannot do better 

 probably than join him in recommending " that trees should be 

 inspected twice a year, in summer when the perfect insect is on 

 the wing, and afterwards in winter, when infected trees ought to be 

 cut down and burned, or subjected to such heat or fumigation as 

 may destroy the larvse, or to cover them over with a mixture of 

 tar and train oil in March to a certain height from the ground all 

 such trees as it may be thought proper to save :" for young trees, 

 or a partial aff'ection, corrosive sublimate and turpentine applied 

 to the parts during dry weather in March would most probably 

 effectually put a stop to the mischief; but the expense would not 

 allow of its general application. 



A sprig of Ulmus cmnpestris ? (the common Elm) is figured. 



