wed 
beetles. This mortality was so great as to reduce the number of ate 
tacked trees on the Beaverhead to eligi tly over 915,000, little more 
than 5 percent of the number killed in 1932. In forests south and 
east of the Beaverhead, where continuous low temperatures over such 
long periods did not occur, the mortality of the beetles was not so 
high. 
Bark-beetle infestation in California.--J. M. Miller, of the 
Berkeley, Cal Calif., field laboratory, reports me on Lifornia condi- 
tions as follows: Compared with the conditions which existed at the 
close of the 1932 season, the past year shows decided improvement, 
with appreciable reductions in the intensity of bark-bectle ifesta~ 
tions and timber losses. In the Sierra Forest the control work of 
the last 2 years has apparently broken the backoone of the heavy in- 
féstations. The effect of the control has been aided by natural fac- 
tors, with the result that the amount of overwintering infestation 
in this forest is perhaps the lowest since 19243..-In the Stanislaus 
Forest, where no control work was done prior to 1933, infestations 
have dropped perceptibly during the season, but are still fairly 
ageressive and can easily flare up into a bad epidemic if cmditions 
during the coming winter and next season are favorable to the beetle, 
The Stanislaus infestation has not dropped to anything like the ex. 
tent that it has in the Sierra. A fairly large insect—control pro- 
from is now under way in this forest to meet the situation. In north. 
eastern California the severe freeze of last winter set dDack the in- 
festations in certain areas in the Modoc, Shasta, and Lassen Forests. 
Centers of live infestation escaped, however, and heve shown a Gis. 
turbing tendency to build up during the past summer. The coming win- 
ter is a favorable time to strike with control work’ to reduce the in 
festation now on the ground to.as low a point as possible. Two fairly 
large projects are now under way in the Modoc and Lassen Forests, An 
infestation of only milc intensity is now in progress in the Eldorado 
Forest; but, because of public interest in the aesthetic features of 
tHe American River Canyon, a control project has been. undertaken there 
to improve conditions in areas bordering the State hichway. In south- 
ern California the infestation has been.extremely light, except for 
one or two areas; notably Figueroa fountain on the Santa Barbara: Forest, 
Because of et Goce ee and. the. accessibility of:C.0 @ 
Comps, the more important are were surveyed during the: summer and a 
number of trees were treated ee EC W labor. 

Western pine beetle on the defensive.--F. P. Keen, of the Port 
land, Orez., field laboratory, reports that the western pine beetle 
epidemic, which has been raising havoc in the ponderosa pine stends of 
the Pacific Northwest since 191/, is now definitely on the wane, as 
shown by the results of forest surveys just completed on 10 forest ad- 
Ministrative units in Oregon and Washington. The number of trees ate 
tacked in 1943 was found to have dropped by 50 to 90 percent from 
