212 THE PINE DESTROYER. 



works of entomologists, which we will take in chronological order. 

 Linnaeus comes first (for we do not need to go further into 

 antiquity), and with him the genus is known as Dennestes^ a com- 

 pound of ^tp\ia^ skin or hide, and IryQ'na^ to eat ; because the 

 various species were known to feed upon skins, feathers, hair, 

 hides, and other similar substances. The name Dermestes is still 

 retained, and applied to a small group of beetles, of which the 

 best known perhaps is Dermestes lardariiis — the Bacon Beetle. 



Following close upon the heels of Linnaeus comes De Geer, 

 whose " Insect Memoirs " began to appear in 1752.^ He wrote 

 seven quarto volumes on the history of insect life, and designated 

 our beetle Ips, from the fact that by the ancients a worm or insect 

 that feed on horn, wood, or other hard material was so named 

 (l'-.//, l-^oQ). De Geer's name is adopted by Marsham, who, in 

 1802, wrote a book on British Entomology, the first volume of 

 which deals with Coleoptera. In 1775 Fabricius published the 

 first edition of his " System of Entomology,t and to him we owe 

 two separate terms. The first, Hylesinus, is from the Greek vKn 

 (or Hyle), woody material, and cr/voc, anything hurtful, a plague 

 (mvofxai^ to ravage or devour), and means the wood-plague, or 

 destroyer of timber. The second is Bostrichus, whence the 

 name of the family — Bostricidse. The name Hylesinus is still 

 employed by some entomologists, especially on the Continent. 

 At the end of the last century, when insect life was engaging a 

 goodly share of scientific attention, Olivier undertook to write on 

 the natural history of insects, and treated especially of the 

 Coleoptera. t He adopted the generic title, Scolytus^ in which he 

 was followed by his contemporary, Latreille. This term, still in 

 use to designate certain species of wood-eating beetles, was 

 intended to refer to the tortuous tracks made by the insects on the 

 wood which they were devouring (from the Greek, a/coXioe, crooked, 

 winding). 



Finally, as though the creature had not already received 

 sufficient names. Leach, writing between 1814 and 1820, adopted 



* Memoires pour servir a Vhistoire des Insectes, by C. De Geer. 



t Systema Entomologice, etc. 



X Eniomologie : ou Histoire Naturelle des Insectes. 



