474 



KOTES AND QUERIES. 



[DEa 15. 1855. 



BOOK-WORMS. 



' (VoL xii., p. 427.) 



I send you a present of game, consisting- of a 

 brace of book-worms, as I suppose I must call the 

 destructive beetle inquired after by Luke Limner. 

 My library, wliich was arranged on its present 

 shelves about fifteen years ago, contained a copy of 

 Sebastian Munsters Hebrew and Latin Bible, 2yo\s. 

 folio, Basil., 1546, in the original binding, con- 

 sisting of oaken boards covered with stamped calf, 

 but both volumes worm-eaten to such an extent, 

 that I hesitated whether to throw them away; 

 but having some little book-worm sympathies, I 

 retained them. I occasionally examined them, 

 but did not perceive that they went any worse, 

 and indeed they scarcely could ; but, what was of 

 more importance, they did not affect their neigh- 

 bours, till about twelve months ago, when I ob- 

 served a single spot, in which the insect had 

 attacked the red morocco cover of the adjoining 

 volume; but the discovery was fortunately made 

 before it had penetrated much below the surface 

 of the leather. On examining the shelf, which 

 had been put up new at the period above referred 

 to, I perceived two places in which the insect had 

 perforated the wood. I, of course, removed the 

 cause of the mischief; and bored auger holes 

 through tlie shelf, to eradicate all traces of the 

 enemy. The offending volumes I stowed away in 

 a lumber room, taking precautions against farther 

 mischief; but I thought it worth while to keep 

 them, as a book-worm preserve, for my scientific 

 friends. Perhaps you have some wio will ex- 

 amine the enclosed, and give your readers some 

 farther account of them. In the mean time, it 

 may suffice to describe them as averaging in 

 length about 15-lOOths of an inch, and rather 

 narrow in proportion. The elytra, in colour a 

 dull reddish brown, form interesting microscopic 

 objects ; being adorned with longitudinal rows of 

 semi-transparent spots, and hairs on the inter- 

 vening spaces. I presume, the ravages among 

 books are committed by the insect in its larva 

 state ; in which it resembles a small cheese-mag- 

 got, but somewhat thicker about the head. I 

 have fortunately found a living specimen in this 

 state, which I enclose, hoping he will not eat his 

 way out of confinement. It is, with one excep- 

 tion, the only one I have ever seen in this state. 



J. F. M. 



I can assure Mr. Limner that the book-worm 

 is no "myth," but a veritable "beast," of which 

 he may see preserved specimens at the British 

 Museum. The old bibliopole (if, indeed he be 

 not a myth !), who offered a reward for a book- 

 worm, offered it among brother bibliopoles instead 

 of naturalists, perhaps ; but certain it is, that, 



No. 320.] 



having myself occasion to make a few inquiries 

 about book-worms, I made application to my 

 friend Mr. Adam White, one of the officers in the 

 Zoological department of the British Museum, 

 who immediately produced a case containing the 

 insect in question. The only trouble I experi- 

 enced was, in finding that there was more than 

 one sort of book-worm. There is, for instance, 

 Hypothenemus Eruditus, who eats through leather ; 

 and Anobium striatum, who eats through books. 

 They eat through these things, however, in their 

 larva state; and this may in some measure ac- 

 count for their being rarely caught, as I conjec- 

 ture, that in their perfected state, they take unto 

 themselves wings and fly away. I am no ento- 

 mologist, however, and made no inquiry about 

 the book-worm beyond what was necessary for 

 my immediate purpose ; but Mr. Adam White 

 could, doubtless, give every information on the 

 subject, and, if I may judge from my own expe- 

 rience of his kindness, I am sure he would if 

 requested. 



People who look on the British Museum as one 

 of the sights of London which has to be " gone 

 through," to the weariness, if not disgust, of both 

 body and mind, little know what a glorious trea- 

 sure-house it is of knowledge of every descrip- 

 tion ; nor how readily and kindly the guardians 

 of the different departments give information to 

 the ignorant, whether the subject of their in- 

 quiries be general literature, natural history, 

 antiquities, or the fine arts. Margaret Gattt. 



POPE PIUS AND THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 



(Vol. xii., p. 458.) 



It would have been more satisfactory had your 

 correspondent T. L. given his authority for as- 

 serting that " Sir E. Coke never hazarded such an 

 assertion " as that which I have attributed to him, 

 and that " the charge containing the passage was 

 repudiated by Coke as a forgery." I will mention 

 two of my authorities, — Courayer's Defence of the 

 Dissertation on the Validity of the English Or- 

 dinations, vol. ii. pp. 360. 378. (where T. L. will 

 find much information on the subject), and 

 Twisden's Historical Vindication of the Church of 

 England in point of Schism, p. 176. I should in 

 fairness state that I am aware of the " Address to 

 the Reader " prefixed by Coke to the seventh part 

 of his Reports, in which he protests against " the 

 practice of publishing an erroneous and ill-spelled 

 pamphlet, under the name of Pricket, as a charge 

 given at the assizes holden at the city of Norwich, 

 August 4, 1606." But he does not "repudiate 

 the publication as a forgery;" so far from it, he 

 admits the charge, but " protests that it was not 

 only published without his privity, but (besides 



