Our national forests : $b a short popular account of the work of the United States Forest service on the national forestsBoerker, Richard H. D. (Richard Hans Douai)
History
Our national forests : $b a short popular account of the work of the United States Forest service on the national forests
Boerker, Richard H. D. (Richard Hans Douai)
Forests and forestry -- United States; United States. Forest Service
Probably the first external evidence of the attack of a bark beetle upon
living trees with normal green foliage, is the presence of pitch tubes
upon the outer bark. These are small, reddish-brown (later becoming
grayish-white) masses of pitch and sawdust, which exude from the small
cylindrical entrance made by the adult beetle where it bores through the
bark to begin its egg tunnel. Each tube represents the entrance of one
or more of these beetles. But we must follow these egg tunnels further,
to learn how the actual damage is done to the tree. As soon as the bark
beetle has made its entrance through the bark, it starts to work up
through the live bark and cambium of the tree, forming a tunnel but
little larger than the diameter of the beetle, which is known as the egg
gallery, These egg galleries vary in shape from straight to winding, and
in length from ten to forty inches. As a rule, male and female beetles
work together in one gallery, and the eggs are deposited along the
sides of the gallery, often in little pockets. When the tunneling and
egg-laying process of the adult beetles is completed, their activity
ceases, and they are usually found dead at the upper end of their
galleries. The larvæ hatch and begin their work by burrowing across the
cambium at right angles to the egg galleries. The complete girdling of
the cambium layer is not accomplished until the larvæ have completed
their work, and the numerous larval galleries, by joining one another,
form a complete gallery around the cambium of the tree, thus cutting
off the food supply which is made in the leaves of the tree, from the
lower portion of the tree, namely the roots. Since the roots cannot live
without nourishment, the tree dies. As soon as the larvæ have completed
their development they pupate. Later they develop into adult beetles.
These adult beetles issue forth in swarms the following spring, to
attack new trees.
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