36 BULLETIN 244, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The Nantucket pine-tip moth (Retinia frustrana Scud.) attacks 

 and deforms the rapid-growing tips of branches. The attack of this 

 insect is locally the most perceptible injury, but the insect is not a 

 serious menace. The presence of dead tips and pitch exudations are 

 the characteristic external signs of the attack, usually equally present 

 on other pines, for the insect is widely distributed and attacks without 

 apparent discrimination practically all pines. As a rule, the insect 

 is not abundant for more than one or possibly two years. By virtue 

 of its high vigor and its capacity for forming new shoots, shortleaf 

 pine recovers rapidly after an attack, suffering mainly the loss of 

 time during the period of arrested growth. 



Trees cut or thrown during the summer months soon become in- 

 fested with larva? of the southern phie sawyer, or borer, known com- 

 monly as a "fiathead." x The larva? of this genus, Monohammus , 2 

 hatched from eggs laid under the bark, feed on the rich sapwood, but 

 seldom penetrate to the heartwood. They never attack living trees 

 in the South. Rapid drying of the logs is the surest prevention; so 

 that trees cut in the summer months should be removed from stands 

 to dry situations exposed to sun and wind, or barked and opened up 

 fully. Immersion in water where possible is the simplest remedy. 



Mice, chipmunks, squirrels, and birds are very destructive of seed, 

 and, to some degree, of seedlings. The abundant production of seed, 

 however, accounts for the plentiful regeneration of shortleaf in spite 

 of these enemies. On account of the small size of the seed, hogs 

 destroy little or none directly, and they cover many in the process of 

 rooting, so that the hog is to be looked upon rather as a benefit than 

 a menace to the shortleaf forest. In mixed pine and nut-bearing 

 forests, the presence of the hog is decidedly favorable to the regen- 

 eration of pine through the destruction of the hardwood seeds. In 

 artificial forestation, mammals and birds are always one of the chief 

 sources of injury, because they destroy large quantities of seed. 



FUNGI. 



The southern timber pines as a group are not badly infested with 

 timber-destroying fungi until advanced in age or well past maturity. 

 Up to 100 years of age, shortleaf pine is remarkably low in suscepti- 

 bility to fungus attack; above this age, and especially after the age of 

 about 150 years, in regions subject to frequent fires, fungi are more 

 prolific and more easily gain a foothold in the tree. 



Three species of fungi are more or less common in short loaf pine 

 and cause nearly all of the wood rot commonly known as ' ' redheart." 8 

 Two species of fungi, Polyporus schweinitzii and Polyporus sul- 

 phureus, enter the tree through wounds on the butt or on the stool of 



1 The insect is really a roundheaded borer, and not a member of the flat-headed group. 



2 Chiefly, Monohammus tililalor Fab. See Bureau of Entomology Bulletin 58, "Some Insects Injurious 

 to Forests," p. 41. 



a Long, W. H., Office of Forest Pathology, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



