Sept.,! Searle, Gleanings of a Cily Nahivalist. 73 



habits. One or two specimens of three or four species are 

 frequently found in the wash-basin of a morning, having fallen 

 in during the night, and, being unable to climb the smooth 

 sides of the basin, remaining captives. Another beetle, Mezium 

 affine, is also trapped in the wash-basin ; it has a globular body, 

 of a blood-red colour, perfectly smooth and polished. It has 

 no trace of wings. The thorax, head, legs, and antennae and 

 the ventral surface of the abdomen are thickly clothed with 

 flattened hairs or scales. The commonest of the Ptinidae is, 

 I believe, a wood-borer ; it has a slightly flattened oval body, 

 and is covered with long, stout hairs, some straight, others 

 curved. Its legs and beaded antennae are also hairy. The 

 elytra are fused together, and there are no under wings. 



The visitors noted for the year were an occasional elater, 

 or click-beetle, two or three small brown chafers, one large 

 cockchafer, a longicorn, Phoracantha, and others listed at the 

 end of this paper. All of these are worthy of careful study, 

 either as whole insects or the examination of their parts, many 

 of which make fine permanent mounts for microscopical study, 

 such as the antennae, head and mouth parts, spiracles, eyes, 

 &c. The eye of a beetle is a favourite mount for showing 

 multiple images of objects placed between the mount and the 

 source of light — generally below the iris diaphragm. The 

 larva of one beetle, Anthrenus or Trosoderma, is frequently 

 found in dark corners of drawers. It is an object of special 

 hatred to most entomologists, owing to the havoc it plays if 

 it gets into a collection of insects. It will devour animal 

 matter of any description, even whalebone and tortoiseshell. 

 It is a soft, fat grub about three-sixteenths of an inch in length ; 

 each segment is furnished with a ring of hairs, those on the 

 last two segments being very long and brush-like, and 

 capable of erection " like the quills of the fretful porcupine " 

 when the insect is disturbed. These hairs vary in shape, 

 and are very beautiful objects for the microscope, one form in 

 particular being barbed on the shaft and tipped with an 

 ornament somewhat resembling a closed umbrella. These 

 " umbrella " hairs were a puzzle to naturalists for a consider- 

 able time. They were put up as slides by London mounters 

 and labelled " Hairs of Dermestes Beetle," on no species of 

 which beetle could they be found when sought for. Figures 

 of these hairs with their false title are still occasionally seen 

 in books on popular science. 



Diptera. — ^The most numerous of the insects found in a 

 city office belong to the order Diptera, or two-winged flies, 

 and, contrary to what might be expected — notwithstanding 

 the fact (or, perhaps, owing to it), that tliere is a cafe on the 

 ground floor of the building — Musca domesHca, the common 



