170 HOMES WITHOUT BAUDS. 



supply of nourishment. The tree is thus starved to death, and 

 in the following year, a fire applied to the trunk is able to burn 

 it through, and bring down the tree with scarcely any expendi- 

 ture of labour by the settlers. This mode of killing a tree is 

 technically called " girdling " it. In proportion, therefore, to the 

 amount of bark removed, the tree sickens, from defective nourish- 

 ment, and if once the bark be separated all round the trunk, the 

 tree wiU instantly die. 



The reader may probably be aware that some of our most 

 skilful naturalists have thought that the Scolytus is not so 

 culpable an insect as is generally supposed, and that it does not 

 attack trees until their race is run, and they have begun to show 

 symptoms of decay. There is great truth in this conjecture, for 

 it is beyond a doubt that if a tree be seriously injured, and begin 

 to droop, the Scolytus is sure to make a lodgment before very 

 long. Girdled trees, for example, are almost always attacked by 

 this beetle as soon as the effects of the injury are apparent. But, 

 though the female may not lay her eggs la healthy trees, there is 

 little doubt but that she and her mate have aided, ia no small 

 degree, in bringing the tree to so diseased a condition. For, as 

 has already been mentioned, the food of the adult, as well as of 

 the imperfect insect, consists of the bark and wood, and in boring 

 the tree for the purpose of feeding, the numerous Scolyti can but 

 enfeeble its constitution, and so bring it to that state of ill health 

 which renders it a fit cradle for the immature beetles. 



There is hardly a grove or a park in the neighbourhood of 

 London where the ravages of the Scolytus are not painfully 

 apparent, and in Greenwich Park especially, some of the finest 

 trees are riddled with the cylindrical tunnels of this destructive 

 insect. There are several species of Scolytus, each affecting 

 certain trees, so that there is scarcely any tree that can hope to 

 escape from the jaws of some member of this family. 



The well-known wonn-eaten appearance of furniture is caused 

 by certain beetles belonging to another family. As may be seen 

 from the dimensions of the tunnels, the insects are very small 

 and their bodies aie nearly cylindrical. The ravages which these 

 beetles cause are fatal to all who happen to possess old furniture, 

 but Mr. Westwood mentions that one common species, Ptilinus 

 pectinicofnis, completely destroyed a new bedpost, in the short 



