406 
LEPISMA. 
Of these the chief is the Lepisma saccharimim'^ , 
frequently called in our own country, from its pe- 
culiar colour and tapering form, by the name of 
the Wood-Fish. This is an insect of great ele- 
gance. Its general length, exclusive of the caudal 
bristles, is about half an inch, and its colour a 
bright silvery grey, resembling that of pearls: 
this colour is owing to a covering of extremely 
minute oval scales, which are semitransparent, 
very easily detached from the animal by a slight 
touch: the head and thorax together form a 
rounded outline, the remainder of the body gra- 
dually lessening to the tail, which terminates in 
three long bristles, of similar appearance with the 
antennae. The motions of this animal are re- 
markably quick, and it is often observed among 
various domestic articles, particularly sugar. It 
also occurs not unfrequently among old books and 
papers, which it is supposed often to injure j*. It 
is said to be originally an American animal, and 
to have been imported into Europe among sugars, 
&c. Dr. Browne, in his History of Jamaica, re- 
presents it as ‘‘ extremely destructive to books 
and all manner of woollen cloaths.” 
* Linnaeus feminizes the word, calling it saccharina, but this 
is irregular. 
f Though the present insect may occasionally injure books 
and papers, yet it is certain that the principal ravages committed 
on those articles are owing to insects of tlie genera of Dermestes 
and Ptinus, and particularly to the Ptinus pectinicoruis, which, 
in the course of a few days, during very hot weaHller, and in 
places where it happens to abound, will nearly destroy a book by 
innumerable perforations. 
