Why is a species of Dermestes so formidable to the pine forests of Germany?

Because it lodges in such numbers in the alburnum of the pine, that 80,000 of its larvae have been counted in a tree of moderate size. This affection causes the tree to perish from the summit downwards, its leaves turn red, it loses its resin, and is rendered nearly unfit even for making charcoal, much less timber or firewood. This, or a similar insect, has destroyed some of the finest trees in St. James's and the Green Parks, London, although the cause was, for some time, totally unsuspected. - Blumenbach.