Sense of Smell of Longicorn Beetles

Abstract

IN the notice of Ivar Trägårdh's paper on the pinesawyer pest in Sweden, which appeared in NATURE of April 5, page 546, doubt is expressed that longicorn beetles are attracted by means of their sense of smell “to trees in the condition they require for oviposition”. The writer of the notice cites an opinion held some twenty years ago that the Indian sal heartwood borer, Hoplocerambyx spinicornis, discovers newly felled trees by an unerring ‘instinct‘ (“Indian Forest Insects”, p. 323).