130 Report of the Forest Commission. 



to the work of a small beetle known as the Hylurgus rufipen- 

 nis, Kirby. Mr. Feck found both the mature insect and its 

 larvae in countless numbers under the bark of the diseased trees. 

 These insects excavate a passage between the bark and the wood, 

 eating away a part of both, and thus, practically, girdling the 

 tree, their numerous galleries forming an intricate network of 

 furrows which traverse the most vital part. Woodsmen are apt 

 to claim that worms or insects are found only in dead or fallen 

 timber, and entomologists have often expressed a doubt as to any 

 borer attacking a live tree. But both Mr. Peck and Dr. Packard, 

 in their investigations of the Adirondack spruce blight, found 

 these beetles in live spruces, trees in which the wood was full of 

 sap and on which the leaves were fresh and green. 



Mr. Peck mentions having found dead beetles in a 10-inch tree. 

 In this case the insects had commenced work, but the resin — 

 which is so plentiful in the young spruces — oozed from the 

 wounds, obstructing their passage, and the insects becoming 

 embedded in gum were found dead, each in its furrow. The 

 older and larger trees having less resinous matter, offered no such 

 obstruction, which may account for the fact that only the mature 

 trees perished — a much more plausible theory than the one of 

 old age. 



The reason for the sudden cessation of the blight has been a 

 subject of discussion as well as the origin. The complete disap- 

 pearance of these insects has been attributed, with good reason, 

 to the woodpeckers, which were observed at work in many places, 

 the dead trees having been pecked at by these birds in search of 

 insect food until the bark had turned to a t eddish hue. 



It js not at all improbable that there may be a recurrence of 

 this blight, and another wholesale destruction of merchantable 

 timber from this cause . If so, the timber as fast as it is attacked 

 should be cut and marketed instead of allowing it to be wasted 

 and lost. Unfortunately the State law will not permit any such 

 economic action. The sale of any timber in the Forest Preserve, 

 not only the matured but the dead and fallen trees as well, is 

 specifically prohibited. Neither can the law be repealed or 

 amended, for the persons who are responsible for this remarkable 

 legislation succeeded in having it incorporated in the Constitution 

 itself. 



