of Neiv Coniferous Trees from California. 285 



supply of these trees, therefore, continues to be dependent upon 

 grafts and cuttings, of course at a high price. Various causes 

 have been alleged as the ground of these failures, the most 

 common suggestion being the carelessness of the collector in 

 not selecting perfectly sound seed, and want of care and atten- 

 tion in packing. My brother's observations have satisfied him 

 that to neither of these can previous failures be justly attri- 

 buted. They are entirely owing to the cones of the trees being 

 so universally attacked by an insect that it is matter of the 

 greatest difficulty to find an untouched cone. It was only after 

 examining the produce of hundreds that my brother was able 

 to secure a very few intolerable condition. At no period of 

 their growth did he find the cones free from it. The insect 

 appears to lay its egg in the seed while the cone is still in its 

 green and tender state. Probably it could not penetrate the 

 bard husk of the seed in its mature state, and in the majority 

 of cones almost every seed will be found with a maggot in the 

 kernel while it is still unripe. What species of insect it is, we 

 cannot yet tell. The grub is obviously the larva of a coleop- 

 terous insect, and I hope shortly to know more, as I am at 

 present in process of attempting to breed some living speci- 

 mens which my brother brought home. He found no perfect 

 insect in or among the cones, with the exception of a single 

 specimen of an Agathidium, which he shook out of a heap of 

 cones. Neither the larva of this minute beetle nor its habits 

 are yet known, so that we cannot say positively whether it is 

 the culprit here or not ; but so far as an inference may 

 be drawn from the known habits of the perfect insect, which 

 frequents decaying vegetable matter, I should say it is not. 

 From the appearance of the larva I think it is more likely 

 to be an AnoMum, in partial confirmation of which I may 

 mention that in one of the consignments sent home by 

 Jeffrey, there was found among the debris a considerable num- 

 ber of living specimens of an AnoMum closely allied to our 

 Anobium molle and A Metis, both of which feed upon some 

 portion of our fir-trees. I cannot charge my memory whether 

 these specimens came in the consignment of which seeds of 

 the A. noMlis formed a part or not. Whatever be the species, 

 it is obvious that it must be found in immense numbers at the 



KE.W SKKIES. VOL* I. NO. II.— APRIL 1855. U 



