187 

 DAMAGE TO FORESTS BY THE DESTRUCTIVE PINE BARK-BEETLE. 



(Dendroctonus frotitalis Ziiiim.) 

 ]iy A. I). Hopkins, Mor<jan1oirn. W. la. 



It appears that an iinliealthy condition of tlie i)ine forests in West 

 Virginia and Virginia has existed in certain jjoints in the Allegheny 

 Monntain range and adjacent foothills since about the year 1888, but 

 had only attracted local attention until within the last two years, when 

 its rapid spread and increasing devastation brought the matter to 

 public notice, and it was referred to this Station, and to me, for investi- 

 gation. I have, therefore, made two extended journeys through th© 

 eastern portion of our State, one in May and the other in July of this 

 year, for the purpose of ascertaining the character and cause of the 

 trouble and the extent of the damage, and also to discover, if possible, 

 a remedy. 



It was found that when this trouble commences in a healthy forest 

 groups of trees numbering from two to a dozen or more are noticed 

 dying the first year. The foliage on such trees first turns yellow and 

 then red, as if killed by fire. The second year this peculiar condition 

 will liave spread until the groui)S of dying trees extend over one to ten 

 or more acres; and by the third year the entij-e forest of pine trees of 

 all kinds, on hundreds of acres, is often found dead and dying. 



After studying all the conditions found, and a due consideration of 

 all the visible and x^robable elements Avhich might x)roduce them, I was 

 C!onvinced that a single species of Coleopterous insect, Dendroctonus 

 frontalis^ was to blame for the primary attack and resulting death of 

 the trees. 



From personal observation it is found that the dead and dying con- 

 dition of the Pine extends from near the Pennsylvania line in Maryland 

 on the north; through Hampshire, Hardy, Grant, Pendleton, Randolph, 

 Pocahontas, and Greenbrier, to Summers and Raleigh counties in West 

 Virginia on the south; and from inquiry and correspondence I learn 

 that the same condition extends through about an equal area in Vir- 

 ginia. Therefore, it would seem that the ravages of this beetle extends 

 over an area of at least 10,000 square miles, including i^ortions of West 

 Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland, on which five species of Pine and 

 Black Spruce are being damaged and killed to a greater or less extent 

 by them. In certain sections entire forests of Pine, including all spe- 

 cies on several square miles, are dead, and have been a total loss. The 

 greatest destruction has been in the forests of the common Pitch Pine 

 (P. rigicla Miller), and the Scrub Pine (P. inojys Ait), and in the less 

 common but more valuable Yellow Pine (P. echinata Mill). 



The extensive and valuable forests of Black Spruce {Abies [Ficearna- 

 rianna] nigra Pain), and White Pine (Finns strohus L.) in West Virginia, 

 are being invaded by the insects; therefore, owners who have large in- 



