PINE INSECTS. The insect fauna of the pine is very extensive. In Europe nearly 300 species are found upon trees of the genus Pious, and all hut about 20 feed 111801 different portions of the tree. In the United States nearly 200 have been reeorded, but the total number will probably prove to be nearly double that number. Of the pine insects known in the United States prior to 1890 the species %Odell had occasioned locally the most direct and pereeptible injury WaS pine moth of Nantucket. but the most widely destructive kinds were the timber borers, and of those the larva of .1/onohamat as confrsor, known as 'the sawyer' in the Southern pine districts, did the most damage. Next to that insect. the white pine weevil (Pimodes strobi) does the most dam age to timber. since it deforms the trees, paus ing the growth of gnarled, many-headed trees which except for these attacks would have grown straight and fitted for masts or for the best timber. Some pine-borers are noted for their longevity, and may live for years in articles of furniture or in the timbers of houses, if for some cause prevented from pairing and laying their eggs. ANA damage has been done in dif ferent parts of the United States by bark-boring beetles of the family Scolytidle, and especially by the species of the genus Dendroctonns, which also seriously affect spruce. The pine-destroying beetle of the Black IIills (t)r-adroetotins 2ton1cro so) has done within recent years an enormous amount of damage to the rock pine in the Black Ilills region. bringing about not only a great loss to the owners of the timber, but also to the min ing interests of that region. from the lessening of the timber supply. The prineipal attack seems to be made in August, when the beetles migrate in swarms from the dying trees and settle on the living ones. which they attack and infest in large numbers from near the base to the upper part of the main trunk or stein. Remedial work is largely a part of forest management, and inehides a careful consideration of the proper date for cutting.
The wood-engraver bark-het-0e („Ty/eborus cw h/tux) is the most common and most pernicious of the insects affeeting the forests of white pine in the State of New York, and of the yellow pine in the more southern States. Xyleborus pubes rens feeds mainly under the bark of Pin-us inops, and the eoarse.writing bark-beetle (Totnieus cyan
grapbus) works in the pitch pine and to a lesser extent in the white pine. There are perhaps 20 more species of scolytid bark-beetles which have similar habits in connection with pine tree,. Of the fiat-headed borers of the family linprestiche about 20 have been found to attack the pine. while rather more than 20 longicorn beetle, of the family Cerambyebbe live in the lanai state in the wood of the trees of thi, genus. The white pine weevil (Pissodcs .strobi) lays its eggs in the bark of the topmost shoot of young trees. The larva• mine in the wood and pith• causing the Amin to wither and die, thereby occasioning a crook or fork in the body of the tree at this point. It is fatal to the growth of these tree,, and no competent remedy has been dis covered.
The pine moth of Nantucket trona), referred to above, causes the death of pine tree, in large numbers. The moth lays its eggs on the twigs and the young larva burrows into the wood, ultimately causing the death of the Ai:My insect, affect the leaves of pine, in cluding about a dozen sawIlies. In the North west a butterfly (Picris mcna pia ) lays its eggs upon phie, and the larva. destroy the leaves. An other butterfly (Tlcdet .Viphon) does similar work on the pines in Florida and Georgia. Two of the hawk-moths, Lipara Combyroides and pinctum. feed in the larval state upon pine foliage; and the larva of the imperial moth (L'acics imperialis) has similar habits. Many other caterpill:n•s are also to be found doing simi lar• work. The larva of a curious little tineid moth ( (Irlrrhimr 11n1 fD1lelIa I mines in the pine-needles, and the larva of one of the gall-midges (Diplosis resinirola) lives in the pitch which exudes from injuries to the pitch pine. .Another gall-midge (Diplosis pini•rigi'/cr) makes small galls at the bases of the needle clumps. Several plant-lice and scale insects also feed upon the pine. the most notable being the pine-leaf chermes pinifolial and the pine-leaf scale in sect (Myti/aspis pinifotio ), the latter frequently covering pine needles in various parts of the United States with its minute white scales.
Consult : Packard, Report on Insets Injurious to Forests (Department of Agriculture, Washing ton, 1890): Hopkins, Insert L'armirs of the Pine in the Black Bills Forest Bcserre (lb.. 1902).