A male sirex juvencus, one of the tailed wasps or saw-flies, was captured in a coalpit near Wigan. The insect was sent to a correspondent after being found by a collier's son, who took it to his schoolmaster. It is believed the wasp entered the pit as a grub inside a timber prop.
Damage to Wood
The female sirex lays eggs in fir or pine trees, and the resulting maggots bore tunnels in the wood, causing significant damage. They attack sound wood, though Miss Ormerod noted that trees attacked were generally past their prime.
Comparison with Larger Species
A larger and more handsome fly, sirex gigas, is better known. One authority claims the smaller sirex is more abundant in England, but a recent writer suggests the opposite, though the small species is common on the continent. Given that pit-props are often imported, the insect likely originated abroad.
Several insects found in mines have been introduced via wood, including a very fine longicorn beetle with exceedingly long antennae.
Published in The Guardian, 21 June 1906.
