142 The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology, [May 
NEW ZEALAND TIMBERS AND THE BORER. 
A. Note on the Susceptibility of New Zealand Timbers to 
the Attacks of the Borer, Anobium domesticum. 
Ity R. Speight, M.Sc., F.G.S., Curator, Canterbury Museum. 
In the Canterbury Museum there is a fairly complete series of New Zealand 
timbers, collected principally in the early days by Dr. von Haast, but added 
to by Captain Hutton. Most of these have come from the forests that once 
grew in the Province of Canterbury, notably those .on Banks Peninsula, 
but representatives have been obtained from other parts of New Zealand, 
the total number exceeding 150. As the building has been exposed to the 
ravages of the borer (Anobium domesticum Linn.) and these timbers were 
in a part in close contact with the wood which was seriously affected, and 
us all were equally exposed to attack, I have thought it may be of value to 
place on record the behaviour of the various timbers. I have furnished to 
Mr. D. E. Hutchins, of the Government Forestry Department, a part of 
this list, but have revised and added to it considerably so that it may 
serve to amplify the facts as furnished to him. The issue of this state¬ 
ment may, however, be of interest to those who have no access to the 
Government publications in which his report will no doubt appear. 
In the appended list 1 have given first of all the botanical name of the 
tree from which the timber is derived, then the number of specimens in the 
Museum, the number of those immune, and the number attacked, as well as 
the Maori and the local name for the timber. There may be some discre¬ 
pancies in assigning the scientific name of the tree to the local name for the 
timber, but they will be few, and the list may be generally taken as reliable. 
By far the majority of the specimens have their names clearly marked 
on them in either Dr. von Haast’s or Captain Hutton’s writing, which may 
be taken as a guarantee of correctness. A difficulty naturally arises where 
the same tree is known bv different names in different localities, and also 
where the name given in one district to a particular tree is assigned to 
another tree in a different part of the country. This applies especially 
to the beeches, locally and variously known as black, red, and white 
41 birches.” 
It will be seen from the list that some timbers are immune, while others 
show a varying proportion of affected specimens. It is frequently found 
that the sap is attacked while the heart-wood is unaffected. This is 
specially the case with regard to the matai, commonly known as black- 
pine. A considerable quantity of this timber has been used in the con¬ 
struction of the Museum, and the sap is almost universally affected, while 
the heart has invariably escaped and is now so hard that it is difficult to 
drill it. It is somewhat remarkable that the specimen. of kahikatea, or 
white-pine, which is looked upon as one of the most susceptible of timbers, 
are but slightly affected, although it has been badly attacked when used in 
the construction of the Museum building. I can assign no reason for this, 
but I believe it is fact, confirmed by the experience of builders, that timber 
from trees grown on hill-sides or river-terraces has more resistant properties 
than that grown on swamp lands, and timber cut in the winter has also 
superior lasting-power over that cut in the summer. One of these causes 
