Bath Chronicle (22/Jul/1847) - Devastation by Insects

The following is a transcription of a historic newspaper article and may contain occasional errors. If the article was published prior to 1 June 1957, then the text is likely in the Public Domain.

Devastation by Insects.

The wood known as Dungeon Wood, at Lockwood, near Huddersfield, now presents a somewhat naked appearance, in consequence of the ravages committed on the foliage of the oak by a small green grub (the aphides quercus) of about half an inch in length, and commonly known as the plant louse. The tiny devastator can, by means of a thread which it spins, voluntarily raise or lower itself, according to circumstances, so that when the leaves are devoured in one place it can proceed to another. The genial warmth of the summer sun seems to be of great assistance to it in its labours, and in the propagation of its kind, for while the trees on the south side are almost naked, the north side is very little worse. We need hardly say that the trees, in consequence of being thus deprived of their clothing at a season when it must be required, are already showing symptoms of cracking in the bark. Nearly the whole of the trees being oak (for it touches no other), the wood, when viewed from an eminence in its neighbourhood, has the appearance of premature decay.