All of the above indirectly affect both the quantity and quality
of the wood supply. They can be studied more in detail in the
publications of the U.S. Bureau of Entomology.
Of the insects directly attacking wood, the most important are the
ambrosia or timber beetles, the borers, the ants, and the carpenter
bees. The most remarkable feature of the beetle is the manner of its
boring into the harder parts of the wood. Its jaws are particularly
constructed for this work, being heavy and strong. The boring is
done something after the manner of countersinking, and the jaws are
believed to be self-sharpening, by reason of the peculiar right to
left and left to right motion.
_Ambrosia_ or _timber beetles_, Fig. 92. This class of insects
attacks living, dead, and felled trees, sawlogs, green lumber,
and stave-bolts, often causing serious injury and loss from
the pin-hole and stained-wood defects caused by their brood
galleries. The galleries are excavated by the parent beetles
in the sound sap-wood sometimes extending into the heart-wood,
and the young stages feed on a fungus growth which grows on
the walls of galleries. (Hopkins, Entom. Bulletin No. 48, p.
10.) The growth of this ambrosia-like fungus is induced or
controlled by the parent beetles and the young are dependent
on it for food. (Hopkins, _Agric. Yr. Bk._, 1904.)
[Illustration: Fig. 92. Work of Ambrosia Beetle, _Xyloborus celsus_,
in Hickory Wood: _a_, Larva; _b_, Pupa; _c_, Adult beetle; _d_,
Character of work in lumber cut from injured log; _e_, Bark; _f_, Sap
wood; _g_, Heartwood. [_Agric. Year Book_, 1904, Fig. 44, p. 384.]]
[Illustration: Fig. 93. Work of Ambrosia Beetles in Oak: _a_,
_Monarthum mali_, and work; _b_, _Platypus compositus_, and work; _c_,
Bark; _d_, Sap-wood; _e_, Heart-wood; _f_, Character of work in lumber
from injured log. [_Agric. Year Book_, 1904, Fig. 45, p. 384.]]
There are two general types or classes of these galleries, one
in which the broods develop together in the main burrows, the
other, in which the individuals develop in short separate side
chambers extending at right angles from the primary gallery,
Fig. 93. The galleries of the latter type are usually
accompanied by a distinct staining of the wood, while those of
the former are not. (Hopkins, _Agric. Yr. Bk._, 1904, p. 383.)
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