176 NOTES ON THE DBY SUMMER OF 1896. 



in July the majority of the trees in the valley had lost fully 

 two-thirds of their foliage, while quite a score of noble specimens 

 stood as bare as if winter had suddenly seized them in its icy 

 grip. From the hillside, one could see them everywhere standing 

 out in strong relief against other trees of the wood; and from 

 Kennall Vale to Perranwharf they could be seen by the riverside, 

 in this seared condition, in one unbroken line. Wherever willows 

 grew among the alders, they, too, were affected, although the 

 same kind of trees growing away from the alder remained scot 

 free. Investigation proved the mischief to be the work of 

 countless thousands of small caterpillars belonging to a pretty 

 little beetle of the Glalerucidse, known as G. lineold. They 

 infested the lower surface of the leaves, devouring the softer 

 tissues so voraciously as to cause the blasted appearance which 

 the tree presented. In August the larvse pupated, but here the 

 work of spoliation did not end, for in a week or so, an 

 innumerable host of the little brownish yellow beetles themselves 

 came forth to continue the work of devastation. This beetle 

 and its larvse are said, for the most part, to frequent willows 

 and water plants, but have been recorded as being found on the 

 alder in Sweden. Considering the damage it wrought last 

 season, it is quite possible that our alders will not present their 

 usual appearance next summer. Of a certainty the destruction 

 of the leaves so early in the summer precluded the elaboration 

 and storage of reserve materials in the permanent tissues of the 

 tree for next spring's growth, a disastrous circumstance for any 

 plant. As the expression, "tongues in trees," is really 

 something more than a catch-phrase of the poet, it will be 

 perfectly easy at any future time to trace the effects of last 

 season's drought with its attendant abundance of insect life 

 in both the alder, larch, and apple tree. Prof. Dickie tells us 

 that, when he was collecting materials for a paper on the forest 

 trees of Aberdeenshire, " a number of ash stumps, all in the 

 same place, were found to have one hundred and eleven zones ; 

 the trees had been cut down near the root in 1838. On counting 

 back from the external annual layer, it was observed that two 

 of the zones, very much thinner than the others, corresponded 

 to the years 1781 and 1782. On making inquiry of some aged 

 persons, it was stated that 1781 was notable for its cold, ungenial 



