130 TIMBERS AND THEIR USES 



another still more destructive beetle, Elaphidion 

 villosum, .not only girdles but actually prunes 

 the young twigs of these trees, pupation taking 

 place in the pruned portions of the twigs. 



The wood borers are by far the most numerous 

 of the forest pests and, to the timber merchant, 

 they are the most important, for they directly 

 lower the market value of timber. 



The world over, Longicorn beetles, so called 

 on account of the extraordinary development 

 of their antennae, are enemies of forest trees. 

 As in the case of the Girdlers, the larvae alone 

 are destructive. In Britain there are several 

 destructive species ; the Musk beetle, Aromia 

 moschata, attacks Willows and Limes ; the 

 Large Poplar Longicorn, Saperda carcharias, 

 damages Willows and Poplars ; the Small Poplar 

 Longicorn, Saperda populnea, is injurious to the 

 same trees. Many of these beetles are trans- 

 ported from one part of the world to another 

 in felled and also in living trees. Only recently 

 while examining a collection of beetles from South 

 Africa we were surprised to meet with a species 

 which had previously only been recorded from 

 Australia. Further investigation revealed the 

 fact that a number of New South Wales gum 

 trees had recently been imported into the dis- 

 trict and with them certainly the wood-boring 

 beetles. 



