82 The Irish Naturalist. May, 



domcstica frequents warm places where the temperature is 

 between 70*^ F. and So"-' F., and shuns damp cold places. 

 Its favourite habitat is in the interstices of stone walls 

 warmed by their proximity to steam -pipes and in a similar 

 situation between wood-skirting and stone walls. It lives 

 and breeds in dark places, emerging from the latter only 

 when in search of food. For this reason apparently its 

 eyes are of no use to it in daylight, as it is not sensible to 

 the presence of objects brought suddenly very close to it. 

 A very bright light however disturbs it. It appears to 

 feed on starch, dextrine, paste, bread-crumbs, cSic. It has 

 a cannibal nature however which the following incident 

 would tend to prove. I placed three of the insects in a 

 shallow glass beaker. One of them was slightly crushed. 

 The other two I asphyxiated with a drop or two of ether. 

 One of the latter insects was thus killed, but the other 

 revived after a time. The beaker was left overnight and 

 in the morning the live insect had apparently devoured the 

 crushed one, for the latter was lying in pieces, literally 

 ' cleaned out ' like an empty shell. It did not touch the 

 complete dead insect, however, but frequently walked round 

 and over it as if examining it. 



" The only foreign material at present in use in the mill 

 comes from the Baltic, and is of a nature that would forbid 

 the presence of insect life. Sixteen years ago, however, 

 Spanish esparto was used but has not been imported since 

 that time. Therefore if introduced, T. domestica must 

 have been introduced then, and it has since become 

 thoroughly used to its surroundings. A friend (whom I 

 have proved to be rather an accurate observer) tells me 

 that he saw the same insect many years ago in a corn -mill 

 at Ballymena. Unfortunately the corn-mill in question 

 does not now exist, having been burned down. Of course 

 the atmosphere in a corn-mill near and around the kiln is 

 often V'cry warm — over 80'' F. I recently paid a visit to 

 a neighbouring corn-mill but could detect no sign of any 

 kind of animal life — not even a cricket. Another interesting 

 point lies in the fact that seventy years ago a corn-mill 

 stood on the spot where the insect is now found. In 

 conclusion I may mention that T. domestica is fairly 



